NATO chief worried about Russian spy activities in the Alliance
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has expressed concern over Russian spying activities within the Western military alliance.
"We have seen that Russian intelligence services have operated across European countries for many years. We also see attempts to step up their activities, but of course, NATO allies are monitoring and following this very closely," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany's Bild daily on April 5.
"And we have also taken some measures to make it harder for the Russian security intelligence services to conduct illegal activities among or inside NATO allied countries," he added.
Stoltenberg said several Russian personnel had in the past been expelled from NATO headquarters amid espionage allegations.
"We also expelled for instance Russian personnel from NATO headquarters because we saw that they were conducting activities which were actually not diplomatic work but intelligence work," he said.
Russia established a diplomatic mission to NATO in 1998 which was closed after cooperation under the NATO-Russia Council was suspended in 2014.