Belgium expelled 21 accredited Russian diplomats from the country on Tuesday, the Netherlands 17. They are accused of espionage and must leave the country within two weeks.

The governments did not provide any information about the precise circumstances.

Belgian Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès said it was "not a sanction" and that the decision was made solely for reasons of national security.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra made a similar statement.

Nevertheless, both countries pointed out that the Russian invasion of Ukraine played a role.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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Hoekstra disclosed this in a letter to Parliament announcing the expulsion.

"The intelligence threat against the Netherlands remains high and the current position of Russia more broadly makes the presence of these intelligence agents highly undesirable," wrote the politician, who is also the leader of the Christian Democrats.

The diplomatic channels with Russia must remain open, but must not be misused for intelligence activities.

Wilmès emphasized that the Russian embassy in Belgium will remain operational.

This embassy is not only used for bilateral contacts, but also for contacts with NATO.

Russia closed its representation to the alliance last fall after it expelled eight accredited diplomats for espionage.

Brussels is known as the “capital of spies” in Europe.

Because of the institutions of the European Union and NATO based there, the national delegations are particularly large, and there is a high interest in confidential information.

In addition, the Belgian capital is conveniently located in Europe, where diplomats can move freely.

Nevertheless, there have not been expulsions of this magnitude for decades.

The Netherlands last expelled two Russian diplomats in 2018 and 2020.

In the first case, Den Hagg was responding to the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter in England by Russian agents.

In the second case, the deportees were accused of espionage in the high-tech sector.

Ireland also expelled four diplomats on Tuesday.

Last week, Poland expelled 45 Russians from the country on suspicion of espionage.

It is expected that Russia will react to these steps and also expel people, even if there is no suspicion of espionage against them.