A “Russian spy” was discovered and expelled in Slovakia. Moscow promises a “mirror response”
A diplomatic scandal erupted between Slovakia and the Russian Federation - a Russian diplomat was expelled from this country on charges of espionage, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Reuters reports this with reference to a statement by Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini.
According to the Prime Minister of Slovakia, the diplomat was declared persona non grata on November 22 and left Slovak territory within 48 hours. Bratislava claims that he collected secret information about Slovakia and NATO.
“We made the decision on November 22 and he left Slovakia within 48 hours,” the head of government said. Pellegrini did not provide specific information about the diplomat, noting that the Russian representative was declared persona non grata after military intelligence received information about his espionage activities. The prime minister pointed out that the diplomat worked in the office of the military attache of the Russian Embassy in Slovakia and allegedly collected secret data relating to both Bratislava and NATO.
The incident has already been commented on by the Federation Council and the State Duma.
“I doubt that our foreign policy department will be able to agree with these accusations. Most likely, we will reject these accusations,” said State Duma committee member Anton Morozov.
At the same time, the parliamentarian clarified that Slovakia is not obliged to provide evidence of the Russian diplomat’s involvement in intelligence activities. “According to the Vienna Convention, they have the right to expel a diplomat, even if his guilt has not been proven, but they simply suspect him of activities incompatible with the status of a diplomat,” he explained.
According to the first deputy head of the international committee of the Federation Council, Vladimir Dzhabarov, Russia will not leave this incident unanswered.
“Russia will respond in the same way to the actions of Slovakia; there has never been a case when our country did not react to such unfriendly actions,” Dzhabarov said.
Let us remember that in November a spy scandal broke out in Austria. The country's authorities announced that an agent of the Russian special services worked at the army headquarters for more than 20 years: he served in an “inconspicuous post” and transmitted information to Moscow, receiving €300 thousand for his work. And on December 2, The Daily Mail, citing informed sources, reported that the British Ministry of Defense issued a secret notice in which it warned the commands of various military installations in the country about attempts by Russian journalists to infiltrate the territory of a British military base.
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