Russia to Close NATO Missions on Nov.1

Russia announced on Monday it was suspending its mission to NATO and closing the alliance's offices in Moscow from around November 1.

The announcement came as relations with the Western military bloc plunged to new depths after NATO expelled several members of Moscow's delegation to the alliance for alleged spying.

"Following certain measures taken by NATO, the basic conditions for common work no longer exist," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters in Moscow.

Lavrov affirmed that Moscow was suspending the work of its official mission to NATO in Brussels, including its military representative.

Moreover, Russia was shutting down the alliance's liaison mission in the Belgian embassy in Moscow, set up in 2002, and the NATO information office set up in 2001 to improve understanding between NATO and Russia.

"NATO has already greatly reduced its contacts with our mission," Lavrov said, adding that the alliance is "not interested in dialogue and work as equals".

"We see no reason to pretend that any change is possible in the foreseeable future," he pointed out.

The foreign minister mentioned that in case of urgent matters, NATO could liaise via the Russian ambassador in Belgium.

NATO earlier this month stripped eight members of Moscow's mission to the alliance of their accreditation, with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calling them "undeclared Russian intelligence officers".

"We have seen an increase in Russian malign activities, at least in Europe and therefore we need to act," Stoltenberg said at the time, calling the relationship between NATO and Moscow as "at its lowest point since the end of the Cold War".

These steps cut off years of efforts to improve ties between the two sides that followed the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.