NATO expels 8 Russian diplomats, Russia says it undermines hopes for normalization of relations

　　Chinanews, October 8th, a comprehensive report, after NATO announced that it would expel 8 staff members of the Russian representative office in NATO, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg said that the matter was not related to a specific incident.

Moscow said that this action shows that NATO has no intention of normalizing relations with Russia.

　　Russia is not a member of NATO, but has long sent observation missions under the framework of the NATO-Russia Committee.

The committee has been established for 20 years with the purpose of promoting mutual cooperation in the field of common security.

　　Stoltenberg said that the eight members of the Russian delegation were “unnotified Russian intelligence officials” and their activities did not match the content of their assignments.

He said, "This decision has nothing to do with any particular incident. But we have been observing an increase in malicious activities in Russia for some time, so it is necessary to stay alert."

　　NATO also reduced the number of Russian permanent missions in NATO to 10, and Russian diplomats must leave before the end of October.

　　Kremlin spokesman Peskov said in this regard that NATO's expulsion of the Russian representative almost completely undermined the normalization of relations between Russia and NATO and the hope of resuming dialogue.

　　He told reporters: "The NATO representative stated in the statement that he desires to normalize relations with our country, but this is obviously in contradiction with actual actions. These actions make us no longer have illusions about the normalization of relations."

　　Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zakharova stated at a regular press conference that Russia will respond to NATO's decision to expel staff from the Russian representative office in NATO, and relevant measures are being formulated.

　　However, Stoltenberg stated that NATO will continue to engage with Russia in defense and dialogue in a "dual track" approach.

He said: "We are also ready to hold a NATO-Russian committee meeting. In fact, we have invited Russia to the meeting for a long time, and we have not received a positive answer so far."