Russia cancels meeting with NATO

MOSCOW, May 5 (UPI) -- Russia said Tuesday it won't send delegates to a NATO-Russia meeting on the alliance's expulsion of two Russian diplomats from the NATO mission in Brussels.

Because the diplomats were stripped of their accreditation last week, Belgian officials reportedly said they saw no reason for the diplomats to remain in the country, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Media reports indicate NATO's decision to strip the diplomats of their accreditation was tied to an espionage case involving an Estonian official.

"We have formally informed the Russian delegation that their accreditation is no longer valid and thus there are no grounds for them to carry out their diplomatic functions in Belgium," Belgian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Delphine Colard said.

Russia responded by announcing it would not send delegates to a Russia-NATO Council meeting later in May, RIA Novosti reported. Russia's NATO ambassador, Dmitry Rogozin, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would not attend the Russia-NATO Council session later this month.

"Considering ... the persistence and stubbornness with which NATO plans to hold military drills in Georgia, and despite all the warnings and taking into account the crude move regarding our officials, the holding of a Russia-NATO Council ministerial session looks inappropriate, at least in the designated time frame," Rogozin said.

The ambassador said, however, Russian-NATO diplomatic relations wouldn't end over the incident.