'It would complicate the already difficult situation in which we are now and prolong the 'ice age,' German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told reporters. Meanwhile, among Western countries, Germany was the first to respond.

NATO told RIA Novosti news service on Monday that it regretted Moscow's move. The accreditation of its personnel will be canceled on November 1. And now, as Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has announced, the activities of the military liaison mission will be suspended. However, in recent years there has been no de facto cooperation.

Kommersant sources said that the changes will affect the military liaison mission of the North Atlantic alliance in Moscow, aimed at promoting the expansion of the dialogue between Russia and NATO. Yet the new closure of all diplomatic contacts is a perilous new low. Diplomats' access to the alliance headquarters and communications with its international secretariat was restricted, military contacts have frozen. The number of Russian diplomatic missions in Brussels has been reduced twice unilaterally by NATO in 20 - after the alliance's decision of Apto suspend all practical civilian and military cooperation between Russia and NATO in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea. In announcing the complete shutdown in diplomacy between Moscow and NATO, the Russian Foreign Ministry added: 'The 'Russian threat' is being hyped to strengthen the alliance's internal unity and create the appearance of its 'relevance' in modern geopolitical conditions.' The Russian Foreign Ministry called NATO's expulsion of Russian personnel a 'ridiculous stunt,' and Stoltenberg's words 'the truest hypocrisy.' NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the removal of accreditations was from eight employees of the Russian mission to NATO who were identified as undeclared employees of Russian intelligence.' We have seen an increase in Russian malicious activity for some time now,' Stoltenberg said. 6 to cut the number of personnel allowed in the Russian mission to the Western alliance by half.

These measures were taken in response to the decision of NATO on Oct. But from Moscow's viewpoint, there was little alternative.

MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry's announcement that the country's permanent representation to NATO would be shut down for an indefinite period is a major development.

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