The Foreign Service Journal, December 2021

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | DECEMBER 2021 19 Russia Closes Mission to NATO T he Kremlin will suspend its perma- nent mission to NATO this fall and close the alliance’s offices in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov announced on Oct. 18. The move comes as a response to NATO’s expulsion of eight Russians in early October for alleged spying, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stolten- berg calling them “undeclared Rus- sian intelligence officers” suspected of “malign activities.” The number of people Russia can accredit at the orga- nization will also be halved from 20. “We have practically no conditions for elementary diplomatic work,” Lavrov told reporters. He said NATO could interact with Russia via its embassy in Brussels, if needed. Russia also plans to shut down the alliance’s liaison mission in the Belgian embassy in Moscow, established in 2002, and the NATO information office set up in 2001 to improve understand- ing between NATO and Russia. The dispute marks the latest dete- rioration in East-West ties, which are already at a post–Cold War low. NATO suspended practical coopera- tion with Russia in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, but has kept channels open for high- level meetings and military-to-military cooperation. Most recently, Russia and NATO have been at odds over Moscow’s nuclear missile development and aerial intrusions in NATO airspace, as well as major Russian troop movements near the Ukrainian border. The Kremlin has been angered by NATO’s aims to strengthen ties with Ukraine and Georgia, which Russia considers to be within its sphere of influence as post-Soviet nations. n This edition of Talking Points was compiled by Julia Wohlers and Steven Alan Honley.