Last week, NATO expelled two Russian diplomats (a senior political officer and the son of the Russian Ambassador to the EU), accusing them of spying. According to the New York Times, it seemed, “likely that Russia will now seek to expel two Western diplomats from Moscow, as is customary in these kinds of diplomatic rows.” Apparently Canada didn’t get the memo. Today Russia expelled two Canadian NATO diplomats in a show of traditional reciprocity. According to Canada’s Foreign Minister’s office, “Canada strongly objects to Russia’s unjustifiable decision to expel two Canadians serving at the NATO Information Office in Moscow.” Apparently the memo arrived a bit later as Canadian Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon later today said, “The Russians indicated to us that it’s not against Canada, but fundamentally it’s a retaliation against NATO… It just happened that the two (NATO) information officers are Canadian.”
Reciprocity is the historic backbone of diplomacy; it serves as the guarantor of tariffs, travel fees, diplomatic immunity, and, you guessed it, diplomatic accreditation. It may seem a bit silly at times (and it may, in fact, be silly at times), but it shouldn’t really be called “unjustified” if one state chooses to take reciprocal actions.
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Hehe, it all depends on how long it takes to get the New York Times delivered to Ottawa. According to my experience using the Canadian post office, it can take a while…
Righteous indignance is also the backbone of diplomacy.
As in, “I am shocked to find gambling taking place in this establishment.”