Five employees of the Russian Embassy in Sweden have been asked to leave the country because they were suspected of spying.
Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said their alleged activities were “incompatible” with their diplomatic status. Billström said Russia’s ambassador to Sweden, Viktor Tatarintsev, was informed of the expulsions.
The Swedish Security Service recently received a list of suspected Russian intelligence officers, according to the Swedish broadcaster SVT.
The domestic security agency has said that “every third Russian diplomat in Sweden is an intelligence officer.”
Sweden also expelled three Russian Embassy staff members a year ago. Neighbouring Norway said two weeks ago that it was expelling 15 Russian diplomats accused of spying.
This announcement comes the day before the broadcast of an episode of a documentary series devoted to Russian espionage activities.
The public broadcasting companies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden reported last week in a joint investigation that Russia was suspected of spying in the waters of the Baltic Sea and North Sea using civilian fishing trawlers, cargo ships and yachts.
The broadcasters analysed marine radio traffic and locations of Russian vessels for its series titled “Shadow War”. They said the data revealed suspicious sailing patterns, particularly around offshore wind farms, gas pipelines and undersea power and data cables.
