NATO kicks out Russian spies but revives Kremlin hotline

NATO has moved to rid its Brussels headquarters of what are believed to be dozens of Russian spies

UNIAN: Western military alliance expels dozens of suspected Russian spies from NATO headquarters while upgrading emergency military contacts with Moscow.

"It's important to have contacts military to military in a normal situation so that if something not normal happens, you're able to clarify misunderstandings, to avoid situations out of control," said Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, in an interview with the Guardian, "We're going through the internal procedures to make sure that they're functioning 24/7. They're working and we're making sure that they're in place if they're needed as a result of an incident."

Despite the decision to revive the emergency hotlines, NATO has moved to rid its Brussels headquarters of what are believed to be dozens of Russian spies.

Under a decision taken last month, the size of non-NATO member states' delegations at the Brussels headquarters has been limited to 30. Russia's was the sole delegation that numbered more than 30.

NATO diplomats and officials said privately that about half of the Russian delegates were assumed to be working for their country's intelligence services. Moscow says it had 37 people accredited to NATO headquarters. A NATO member state diplomat said the figure was 61. Other NATO sources put the figure at up to 90.

"With the Russians we have decided to suspend all practical co-operation but to maintain the channels of political and military dialogue and contact. A delegation of 30 is more than enough to do that," said Stoltenberg.................

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