Putin expels two Colombian officials from Russia, following expulsion of two Russian spies from Colombia

After two spies of Russian nationality were expelled from Colombia on charges of gathering information on key national infrastructure, Vladimir Putin’s government expelled two Colombian diplomats working at the embassy in Moscow.

Ana María Pinilla Morón, third secretary of foreign relations, and Leonardo Andrés González Guzmán, second secretary, are the two Colombian diplomats who worked at the embassy in Moscow and who were expelled by the government of Vladimir Putin, as reported on Tuesday by the Weekly magazine.

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The same media reported that Pinilla Morón and González Guzmán had to find a way to leave the country due to immigration controls and restrictions on flights in the region due to the pandemic. “Although the Colombian ambassador brought the matter before the Russian authorities, they were inflexible and gave an ultimatum that had to be carried out to the letter,” the publication reads.

The decision was announced after Colombian Foreign Minister Claudia Blum reported that the National Government made the decision to request the withdrawal of two Russian diplomatic officials accredited in Colombia, after verifying that they were carrying out activities in the country that were incompatible with what was planned. in the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

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According to press reports, Aleksandr Nikolayevich Belousov and Aleksandr Paristov were spies for Russia who had been operating in Colombia for two years, protected by the embassy of that country in Bogotá. “The Russian counterespionage operation known as Enigma began two years ago,” he says. Week, after the migration authorities detected the massive arrival of Russian technicians to Colombia.

“For this purpose, the procedure established in Article 9 of said international instrument has been followed, an action that has been reciprocally answered by the government of the Russian Federation, by ordering in turn the withdrawal of two Colombian diplomatic officials accredited in Moscow” said the Minister in a statement.

Despite these circumstances, Colombia’s purpose is to maintain the good level that diplomatic, commercial and cooperation relations with the Russian Federation have traditionally set, according to Blum.