Sweden is expelling five russian diplomats, Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said on Tuesday. "Their activities on our territory are incompatible with their diplomatic status," he said.
The decision of the Swedish authorities was reported to the russian ambassador to Sweden, who was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
In April 2022, Sweden has already expelled three employees of the russian embassy in connection with russian aggression against Ukraine.
Earlier, Norway announced the expulsion of 15 russian diplomats. Norwegian authorities believe that all of them are russian intelligence officers who acted under the cover of diplomatic passports.
russia promises to respond to the expulsion of its employees from Sweden, state media write, citing their sources in the russian Foreign Ministry.
According to a joint investigation conducted by the intelligence services and public broadcasters of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland and published last week, russia has developed a program to sabotage wind farms and cables in the North Sea.
The investigation alleges that a fleet of ships disguised as fishing trawlers and research vessels was equipped with underwater surveillance equipment.
Commenting on the publication, a Kremlin spokesperson said that Western media want to blame russia for everything without any reason and that the media of the mentioned countries made mistakes in their investigation.
Background. As reported, Norway exposed 15 russian spies who held diplomatic posts.