(Adnkronos) – Italy will deport two military attaches at the Russian embassy who it alleges are involved in a spying case that saw the arrest this week of two former Italian intelligence officials, foreign minister Antonio Tajani announced on Thursday.
“The Italian government has decided to expel two military attaches from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Italy, responsible for the espionage activities that emerged in the investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Tajani wrote on X.
“The foreign ministry’s secretary-general has just informed the Russian ambassador (Alexey Paramonov) that Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov must leave Rome within 3 days,” the post continued.
“Moscow continues to use its hybrid weapons to attack the West and Italy. Serious and unacceptable interference in Italian institutions and its national security,” the post concluded.
Reacting to Russia’s state Ria Novosti news agency’s report that Moscow “will respond” to the two military attaches’ expulsion, Tajani told journalists: “Russia can carry out all the reprisals it likes, but must prove that anyone it expels is a spy.”
“Our decision has been taken on the basis of fact – theirs (Russia’s) is political,” Tajani added.
Earlier this week, two former 007s were detained on charges of passing classified information to a Russian agent. The main suspect was a 59-year-old former Italian paramilitary Carabinieri police officer, and five other people are being probed in the case, according to Rome prosecutors.
The accusations include transferring classified information and unauthorised access to IT and telecoms services, according to investigators.
