Slovakia is deporting three Russian embassy workers suspected of espionage, the Foreign Ministry in Bratislava said late Monday.
The Russian diplomats were given 72 hours to leave the country because they violated international rules of diplomatic practice, the Foreign Ministry said, avoiding naming them or disclosing what positions they held at the embassy.
At the same time it was announced thatthree Slovaks, accused of being paid to spy for Moscow, had been taken into custody. "This is only the beginning," Defence Minister Jaroslav Nád told the news website Pravda.sk.
According to the newspaper Dennik N, an officer working for the Ministry of Defence, an employee of the Slovak intelligence agency SIS and a third person working for pro-Russian media were arrested.
Police confirmed that they are investigating espionage, but refrained from releasing more details about the persons arrested. More details are expected to be released today.
SIS denied that one of the arrested persons was currently working for it, stressing that it would not release details for the time being.
For its part, Moscow announced that it will take retaliatory measures for the expulsion of the diplomats.
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