Finland expels 9 Russian embassy officials

Finland has decided to expel nine employees of the Russian embassy to Helsinki, according to a government press release issued on Tuesday.

The Ministry for Foreign Affairs on Tuesday summoned the Chargé d'affaires of Russia and informed the decision of the expulsion.

“The Foreign Ministry today (Tuesday) summoned the Chargé d'affaires of Russia who was notified of the expulsion of nine persons working at the Embassy of Russia identified as intelligence officers,“ the ministry wrote in a twitter post.

Earlier, the President and Ministerial Committee at a meeting agreed that Finland will expel the nine officials of the embassy who are members of intelligence personnel.

Their actions are in breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, said the press release.

Finnish Security Intelligence Service (Supo) in a twitter post in Finnish wrote that it was a significant setback for Russian intelligence in Finland and corresponds to the Finnish Security Intelligence Service's counter-espionage goals.

Meanwhile, the President and Ministerial Committee at the meeting also discussed key NATO issues, Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine and the security situation in Europe.

The committee condemned the destruction of the Kakhovka dam as a humanitarian and environmental disaster.

The explosion of the dam indicates that the war is developing in a new way which is causing widespread damage to civilians and the environment in Ukraine.