In Uccle, one of the nineteen municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region, the Russian Embassy occupies a gigantic field of 46,000 square meters, surrounded by 900 meters of fences and watched by a multitude of cameras.
The embassy and the consulate counted up to 220 accredited members. The representation also houses more parabolic antennas than any other Russian embassy in Europe. What, of course, confirm suspicions about the spy activities that take place, or took place, at this location: headquarters of the European Union (EU) and NATO political and military sites, Belgium has always been a target of choice for the various services of Moscow.
As proof, the unprecedented expulsions of “diplomats” to which the kingdom has since made the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Sixty-eight in total. Eight members of the Russian delegation with NATO had already had to leave Belgium in October 2021, which had led to its closure.
The most important wave of expulsions, with twenty Russian officials concerned, took place during the first months of 2023. “” On paper, they are diplomats, but we know very well that they carry out other activities. (…) Espionage, destabilization activities “,, said Alexander de Croo, then Prime Minister, in March 2024. He had not delivered more details on these twenty alleged spies.
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Source: Lemonde