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Italy expels two Russian embassy staff over spying case
Rome prosecutors detained two former intelligence officers and are investigating five others as Italy says the case involves classified national security information.
- On Thursday, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Italy's expulsion of two Russian military attaches from the Russian Embassy in Rome: Ivan Petrovich Gorbachev and Mikhail Vasilyevich Astakhov must leave within three days.
- Earlier this week, prosecutors detained two former Italian intelligence officers and Carabinieri members, Gavino Raoul Piras and Vincenzo Di Pasquale, suspected of passing classified national security information to an alleged Russian agent.
- Five other suspects are named in the case, including four military personnel accused of gathering state secrets and political or military espionage. The widening probe reveals the scope of the alleged espionage ring.
- Russia's Foreign Ministry stated it would give an "appropriate response" to the expulsion, signaling likely reciprocal measures against Italian personnel stationed in Moscow as diplomatic tensions escalate.
- Tajani said Moscow continued to employ "hybrid tools" against Italy and the West, describing this as "serious and unacceptable interference" that threatens national security.
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At least one of the two agents obtained, in exchange for money, information regarding the SAMP/T air defence system, which Ukraine will receive this year, according to the local press.
·Spain
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The Rome Public Prosecutor's Office investigates an alleged intelligence network that would have captured classified information through former Italian agents and military personnel.
The accusation of being the contacts of the two former 007 Italians arrested in recent days for having sold secrets and sensitive information
·Milan, Italy
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources82
Leaning Left14Leaning Right27Center11Last UpdatedBias Distribution52% Right
Bias Distribution
- 52% of the sources lean Right
52% Right
L 27%
C 21%
R 52%
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