Since NATO revoked the diplomatic accreditations of two Russian diplomats and prevented them from working as NATO staff, Moscow has vowed revenge.

The diplomatic quarrel dates back to accusations NATO made about Russian involvement in a spy ring that saw the leaking of secret military information. The result of these accusations led NATO to expel from Brussels Viktor Kochukov, a senior counsellor at the Russian mission and the head of its political section, and Vasiliy Chizhov, a lower-level attache and the son of Vladimir Chizhov, Russia’s envoy to the European Union. The Alliance’s decision was spurred not only by the need to guarantee its internal safety and quash any illicit activities by its members or observers, but also to quash the tarnished image it is receiving in light of growing failures in Afghanistan, says Kommersant. 

As a form of retaliation, the Russian government expelled two Canadian diplomats working as representatives of NATO’s Information Center in Moscow. Because the Russian government did not want to damage bilateral relations with the United States, it took its frustrations out on the hapless Canadians. 

While NATO’s struggles in Afghanistan give promise of further cooperation between Russia and the West, Russia’s need to solidify its geopolitical presence in former Soviet states such as Ukraine and Georgia force it to present NATO as an enemy. Therefore, for Russia, NATO remains the perfect ‘artificial foreign enemy’ while playing into the Kremlin’s power schemes over its neighbors in Eastern Europe. 

Posted by our contributor Denis Cenusa