Home › World › Russia and the US: two October 2021 moves
Russia and the US: two October 2021 moves
Summary
A look back at announcements on Russia's NATO mission and an FBI raid on Oleg Deripaska's Washington house, made days before 23 October 2021.
What had Moscow and Washington done to each other by 23 October 2021? Two announcements from the preceding days stood out.
On 18 October 2021, Russia said it would suspend its mission to NATO in Brussels as early as 1 November. Moscow said the step was a response to the expulsion of eight diplomats, accused of espionage, from the mission earlier that month. The NATO information bureau and the military liaison in Moscow were also to be terminated.
On 19 October 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it had raided the Washington, D.C. house of Oleg Deripaska. He is a Russian oligarch and ally of Vladimir Putin, and the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned him in 2018.
The two developments were separate, one a diplomatic step by Moscow towards the alliance and the other a US law-enforcement action against a sanctioned businessman. Both were reported within a day of each other in the days leading up to 23 October 2021.
