Moscow assumes that NATO will be the first to take steps to improve relations with Russia, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said.
"Yes, we proceed from that, because we have never started worsening our relations either with NATO or with the European Union or with any other country in the West or any other region of the world," he told reporters.
Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday announced Russia's response to the expulsion of diplomats to NATO: in addition to suspending the work of the NATO military liaison mission in Moscow, its information bureau is also shutting down. Russia's post office to NATO will also suspend its work as of November 1 or a little later. For contacts with Russia, the alliance should now turn to the Russian ambassador in Belgium.
NATO had earlier confirmed that it had withdrawn accreditation from eight employees of the Russian representation to the alliance and reduced the number of accreditations for Russia to 10.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from RIA Novosti