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Russia expels Swedish diplomats
MOSCOW, Russia (CNN) -- Russia has announced it will expel two Swedish diplomats in what seems to be a tit-for-tat response to Stockholm's expulsion last month of two Russian diplomats for alleged espionage at telecoms giant Ericsson. In a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sweden's Ambassador to Russia, Sven Hirdmen was told "two employees of the Swedish Embassy were declared persona non grata, because they were conducting an activity that was harming the security interests of the Russian State." Swedish Ambassador Sven Hirdman told Reuters on Monday: "I can confirm that they have taken such a decision today ... I will just say they have taken this decision which we consider groundless." Last month, Sweden's foreign ministry said it had told the Russian Embassy that two of its employees had been declared persona non grata on grounds of activities "incompatible with their diplomatic status" -- a commonly used diplomatic euphemism for spying. Moscow's response on Monday was no surprise. Russia said at the time its diplomats were being kicked out of Sweden that it was reserving the right to make an "adequate response." A court in November ordered three Swedes to be held in custody on suspicion of passing secret documents to an unnamed foreign intelligence service. A former Ericsson employee accused of being the ringleader was detained on suspicion of serious espionage -- a crime which can only be committed against national security -- as he met a foreign intelligence officer. The two others, Ericsson employees in its development section, are suspected of industrial espionage. The company has suspended two more people in development units on suspicion of breaking company security rules. Ericsson is the world's biggest producer of mobile phone networks and is also involved in developing radar and missile guiding systems for the high-tech JAS 39 Gripen fighter plane, Sweden's main strike warplane. Ericsson would not say what documents had been leaked, but a senior company source said they did not appear to have been linked to any military projects. Ericsson has said it believed the damage done by the spying operation to the company was limited. The scandal was the biggest industrial espionage case in Sweden since a worker of Swiss-Swedish engineering group ABB was detained in February 2001 on suspicion of spying for Russia. The man was released after two days for lack of evidence and given back his old job at ABB Power Systems.
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