The Norwegian Foreign Ministry called the expulsion of the country’s diplomat from Russia unjustified. The ministry claims that the representative of Norway did not violate anything, writes RIA Novosti on Friday, August 28, citing a statement from the ministry.
“This is completely unfounded. The diplomat did not violate any rules and acted completely within the framework of diplomatic norms, ”the ministry said.
The summons of the Norwegian Ambassador Rune Resaland to the Russian Foreign Ministry became known earlier on Friday. According to the official representative of the Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, this is due to the expulsion of the Russian diplomat from Norway.
Later, the Russian department declared one of the Norwegian diplomats persona non grata as an appropriate response. His accreditation will be terminated within three days – this is exactly the period that the Norwegians allotted for the departure of the Russian employee.
It was reported that the matter concerns the Counselor of the Norwegian Embassy in Moscow Jan Fläth.
On August 19, the Norwegian Foreign Ministry announced the decision to expel a Russian diplomat from the country in connection with the spy scandal, Moscow protested. On the same day, Oslo announced the hope that the expulsion would not affect the development of interstate relations between the Russian Federation and Norway.
In mid-August, Norwegian law enforcement officers detained a citizen of the country suspected of transferring information to a foreign state. According to the security officials, he has repeatedly met with an employee of the Russian embassy in this country.