Russia expels two Swedish diplomats: report

The move, announced on Wednesday, appeared to be another blow to relations between Russia and Sweden following an earlier diplomatic spat over an alleged Russian spy detained in Stockholm, Poland’s niezalezna.pl news website reported.

The Polish website cited a spokeswoman for the Swedish foreign ministry as saying that “two Swedish diplomats have been asked to leave Russia."

The expulsion has been confirmed by Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, but no details were given, niezalezna.pl reported.

Zakharova only suggested the expulsion of the Swedish diplomats was a retaliatory step by Moscow against Stockholm, according to niezalezna.pl.

Sweden said it had earlier refused to extend a Russian diplomat's visa and turned down a request from Moscow for visas to add diplomatic personnel.

Russia decided to expel two Swedish diplomats more than two months after authorities in Stockholm in late February detained a computer expert suspected of spying for Russia, Poland's niezalezna.pl reported.

The man had been recruited by a Russian intelligence officer working under the guise of a diplomat, according to niezalezna.pl.

The computer expert has been identified as Kristian Dimitrievski, a naturalised Swedish citizen living in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, the Polish website said.

It added that the Russian intelligence officer posing as a diplomat, identified by the media as Yevgeny Umerenko, was an expert in technology espionage.

The head of Sweden’s counterintelligence service, Daniel Stenling, was in July last year quoted as saying that Russia posed “the biggest intelligence threat to Sweden," niezalezna.pl reported.

(gs/pk)

Source: niezalezna.pl