The drop too much. Russia announced Monday that it was suspending its mission of representation to NATO and that of NATO in Moscow. The move comes as the Alliance withdrew the credentials of eight Russian envoys in early October, whom it accuses of espionage. But tensions between Russia and the West are much earlier and have been growing for several years between sanctions, cross-expulsions of diplomats, accusations of electoral interference, espionage or even cyber attacks attributed to Moscow.
Russia also criticizes the Atlantic Alliance for its ambition to extend as far as Ukraine and Georgia, from the former Soviet republics to its borders, which it considers to belong to its sphere of influence. “Following certain measures taken by NATO, the basic conditions for working together are no longer there,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
“The line of the Alliance towards our country is becoming more and more aggressive”
In detail, Russia will indefinitely suspend its mission in Brussels with the Western military alliance, as well as the NATO mission hosted by the Belgian embassy in Moscow. The latter’s role is to liaise between the Alliance in Brussels and the Russian Defense Ministry. Sergey Lavrov also announced “to put an end to the activity of the NATO information office”. The latter is defined by the Alliance as having the mission of “improving mutual knowledge and understanding”. A priori, these decisions would take effect on November 1.
Since 2014 and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, “NATO has already greatly reduced contacts with our mission. On the military side, there has been no contact since then, ”added Sergey Lavrov. “The line of the Alliance towards our country is becoming more and more aggressive,” Russian diplomacy then denounced in a statement.
“The Russian decision is more than regrettable”
For its part, NATO has declared that it “regrets” this decision by Moscow. “We have stepped up our deterrence and our defense in response to Russia’s aggressive actions, but at the same time we remain open to dialogue,” Alliance spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said. “The Russian decision is more than regrettable,” said the head of German diplomacy, Heiko Maas, on Monday, estimating that this will “prolong the icy relations” between Russia and NATO. In case of “emergency”, the Alliance will have to turn to the Russian ambassador in Belgium in the future, Sergey Lavrov said.
These announcements come after umpteenth accusations of espionage. At the beginning of October, NATO announced that they would withdraw their accreditation from eight members of the Russian mission in Brussels accused of being “undeclared Russian intelligence agents”. And the Alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, in the process accused Moscow of increasing “malicious activity” in Europe. Russia had taken note by considering that the politico-military alliance founded in 1949 by the adversaries of the Soviet Union had demonstrated its refusal to normalize the relations.
Russia’s mission credentials already lowered
NATO had already decided in March 2018 to withdraw their accreditations from seven members of the Russian mission and to have them expelled from Belgium following the poisoning in the United Kingdom of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and of his daughter Yulia. The number of accreditations for the Russian mission in Brussels had then been reduced from 30 to 20. On October 7, 2021, this number had been further reduced and reduced to 10.
Despite the strong tensions, the Russian military high command has met several times since 2014 in third countries with military leaders from NATO or the Pentagon. In February 2020, the Russian Chief of Staff Valéri Guerassimov spoke in Azerbaijan with the Supreme Commander of NATO in Europe, the American General Tod Wolters. In September 2021, Valéri Guerassimov met his American counterpart Mark Milley in Helsinki, Finland, after a previous interview in December 2019.
