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Spain, Russia expel diplomats

The Spanish foreign ministry says it has expelled two Russian diplomatic staff in a tit-for-tat move after Russia expelled two Spaniards.

About a month ago, the Russian embassy was notified that two Russian diplomats were expelled for being “engaged in activities incompatible with their status,” the ministry said in a statement released on Tuesday.

In diplomatic language, the phrase is usually taken to mean spying.

Spanish newspaper El Pais said Spain’s CNI national intelligence agency has provided “convincing evidence” of the diplomats’ improper activities, according to AFP.

Last January, in a meeting with the US diplomats, Jose Grinda Gonzalez, a Spanish state prosecutor, claimed that Russia’s strategy was to use “organized crime groups to do whatever the government of Russia cannot acceptably do as a government,” according to one cable dated January.

In retaliation, Russia expelled two Spanish diplomats from Moscow, the ministry said.

El Pais said the incident was by far the most serious event between the two nations since Moscow restored diplomatic relations with Madrid in 1977.

The statement said a scheduled visit by Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez to Moscow is expected on January 17.

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