{"id":67741,"date":"2021-03-31T15:18:49","date_gmt":"2021-03-31T15:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=67741"},"modified":"2021-03-31T15:18:49","modified_gmt":"2021-03-31T15:18:49","slug":"italy-orders-2-russian-embassy-officials-expelled-for-spying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.bornomalanews.com\/?p=67741","title":{"rendered":"Italy orders 2 Russian Embassy officials expelled for spying"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"News Desk: Italy on Wednesday ordered two Russian Embassy officials expelled and arrested an Italian Navy captain on spying charges after police caught the Italian allegedly giving classified documents to one of the Russians in exchange for money.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told a joint session of the Italian Parliament's foreign relations committees that the alleged incident was a \u201chostile act of extreme gravity.”<\/p>\n

The Italian Foreign Ministry said it summoned Russian Ambassador Sergey Razov to protest the \u201cgrave incident” after a sting operation on the outskirts of Rome allegedly caught the Italian and one of the Russians in a \u201cclandestine operation\u201d to exchange the documents late Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Carabinieri paramilitary police said in a statement that the Italian naval officer, who is a frigate captain, had been arrested. The Russian observed with him, a member of the Russian armed forces stationed at the Russian Embassy in Italy, was initially detained but not immediately placed under arrest given his diplomatic status.<\/p>\n

He was ordered expelled along with another Russian Embassy official allegedly involved, Di Maio told lawmakers. Di Maio didn't provide details about the suspected role of the second Russian.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s special operations forces in Rome staged the sting \u201cduring a clandestine operation between the two, surprising them red-handed immediately after the handing over of classified documents by the Italian official in exchange for a sum of money,\u201d said the Carabinieri statement.<\/p>\n

The Carabinieri said both were accused of \u201cserious crimes concerning espionage and state security.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian Embassy in Rome confirmed the detention of a diplomat who was part of the military attache\u2019s office but wouldn\u2019t comment on the incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any case, we hope that it wouldn\u2019t affect bilateral ties,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Russian President Vladimir Putin\u2019s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Kremlin was unaware of details of the incident, but noted that \u201cwe hope that the quite positive and constructive character of the Russian-Italian relations will be preserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Russian Foreign Ministry voiced regret about the diplomats\u2019 expulsion in a terse statement carried by Russian news agencies. It added that its \u201cpossible steps in connection with the situation that doesn\u2019t conform with the level of bilateral ties will be announced later.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Desk: Italy on Wednesday ordered two Russian Embassy officials expelled and arrested an Italian Navy captain on spying charges after police caught the Italian allegedly giving classified documents to one of the Russians in exchange for money. Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told a joint session of the Italian Parliament’s foreign relations committees that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":67742,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2,14],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\t\n