Russia to shut its mission to NATO, foreign minister says

Russia has decided to shut NATO mission from Novenber. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that we will suspend the activities of its mission to NATO. Lavrov said staff at NATO's military mission in Moscow would be stripped of their accreditation from Nov. 1, and that NATO could interact with Russia via its embassy in Brussels if needed. NATO this month expelled eight members of Russia's mission to the alliance who it said were "undeclared Russian intelligence officers". The Russia has taken the said decision in response to the alliance's expulsion of eight Russians.

The expulsion of the Russians was reported earlier, which said Moscow’s mission to the alliance headquarters in Brussels would be halved “in response to suspected malign Russian activities, including killings and espionage”. NATO said on Wednesday that it had withdrawn the accreditation of eight members of the Russian mission and reduced to 10 the number of positions Moscow is able to accredit to NATO. Russia and NATO also have been at odds over Moscow’s nuclear missile development, aerial intrusions into NATO airspace and the buzzing of allied ships by fighter planes.

NATO’s decision came after information was revealed in April about the fatal explosions at a Czech ammunition depot in 2014 that Prague says involved two Russian spies, who were also identified as allegedly implicated in the poisoning of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK. Russia has long had an observer mission to NATO as part of the NATO-Russia Council founded 20 years ago that was meant to promote cooperation in common security areas, but it is not a member of the US-led alliance.