OSLO: Norway is expelling 15 Russian embassy officials that the foreign ministry said on Thursday were intelligence officers operating under the cover of diplomatic positions, a move which Moscow said it would respond to.

The expulsions amount to a quarter of Russian diplomats currently accredited in Oslo, according to the Norwegian government. "This is an important step in countering, and reducing the level of, Russian intelligence activity in Norway, and thus in safeguarding our national interests," Norway's Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said in a statement.

"Russia currently poses the greatest intelligence threat to Norway ... We will not allow Russian intelligence officers to operate under diplomatic cover," she added. The officers concerned must leave Norway shortly, the ministry said in the statement.

The Russian foreign ministry said Moscow would respond to the expulsions, state-owned news agency TASS reported, without elaborating. Officials at Russia's Oslo embassy were not immediately available for comment when contacted by Reuters. Norway, a member of the NATO military alliance, shares a border with Russia in the Arctic.

It also expelled three Russians in April 2022. The Nordic country still seeks to maintain normal diplomatic relations with Russia, and Russian diplomats are welcome in Norway, Huitfeldt said.

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