(Adnkronos) – On the instructions of foreign minister Antonio Tajani, the foreign ministry’s secretary-general, Riccardo Guariglia, underlined to Paramonov that the alleged espionage “constitutes serious and unacceptable interference with national security and Italian institutions,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Guariglia also emphasised to Paramonov that Italy “will continue to counter, with the utmost determination, any hostile activity directed against the country, in close coordination with its allies,” the statement continued.
During the meeting, Paramonov was told of the decision to expel the two military attaches – Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov – who were allegedly involved in activities “found to be incompatible with the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” the statement noted.
Gorbachev and Astakhov must leave Italy within three days, Guariglia told Paramonov.
Earlier this week, two former Italian intelligence officials were arrested 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.
