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MOSCOW, March 28 (Itar-Tass) - RIA Novosti. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday announced that the North Atlantic alliance decided to reduce the number of Russian embassy personnel to NATO from 30 to 20 as a response to the Salisbury incident.

"The NATO Council reduces the maximum number of Russia's permanent representatives to NATO to 10 people in accordance with my decision, which will result in a staff of 20," Stoltenberg said.

According to NATO Secretary General, "this gives a clear signal to Russia that there are costs and consequences for its unacceptable and dangerous behavior model" and "this follows the lack of a constructive response of Russia to what happened in Salisbury."

"Our actions reflect the serious security concerns expressed by all allies and are part of a coordinated international effort to respond to Russia's behavior, they are proportional and consistent with our legal obligations," the NATO Secretary General said in his statement.

NATO's policy towards Russia will not change

Stoltenberg said that the decision to reduce the number of employees of the Russian representation in organizing for 10 people in response to the Salisbury incident does not change the policy of the alliance with regard to Russia.

"NATO remains committed to its dual approach of strong defense and openness to dialogue," he said.

The Secretary General also noted that Brussels is preparing to hold a regular meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, at which it plans to continue a "meaningful dialogue" with Moscow.

Moscow's response

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia would respond to the "rudeness" of Western countries, which expel Russian diplomats because of the case of poisoning the former GRU officer Sergei Skripal.

"We answer, do not doubt, because such rudeness to demolish, of course, nobody wants, and we will not," the minister told journalists in Tashkent.

According to the minister, the situation around the "Skripal case" proves that there are not so many countries in the world pursuing an independent policy.

"The compelling conclusion is that we were right when we stressed several times how little independent countries remain in the modern world, in modern Europe," Lavrov said.

The press secretary of the president, Dmitry Peskov, in turn, said that "Russia will be guided by the principle of reciprocity."

According to him, the Kremlin and the Foreign Ministry have to analyze the situation. "The main analysis will be conducted in our diplomatic department, after which the president will be informed of the proposals, proposals on the steps will be submitted," he told journalists.

Peskov added that the final decision will be made by the head of state.

Earlier 16 countries of the European Union, as well as the USA, Canada, Norway, Ukraine and several other countries decided to expel Russian diplomats in connection with the incident in Salisbury. Totally, 151 diprobotnik will have to leave the country of residence.

In Salisbury on March 4, ex-colonel of the GRU reserve Sergei Skripal, who worked for the British special services, and his daughter Julia were poisoned. The British side claims that the Russian state is involved in the poisoning of Fiddles with substance A234, Russia categorically denies this.

Link: https://ria.ru/world/20180328/1517420479.html