Finland to expel 9 Russian Embassy staff for being 'intelligence personnel’

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Nine Russian Embassy staff will be soon expelled for being "members of intelligence personnel," the Finnish government said Tuesday.

The government said the president and the Ministerial Committee on Foreign and Security Policy condemned the destruction of the Kakhovka dam as "a humanitarian and environmental disaster."

"The explosion of the dam means/indicates that the war is developing in a new way which is causing widespread damage to civilians and the environment in Ukraine," it said in a statement.

The Committee agreed that Finland "will expel nine persons working at the Embassy of Russia who are members of intelligence personnel."

"Their actions are in breach of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs will notify the Russian Ambassador of the matter," added the statement.

The Finnish Foreign Ministry said the Charge d'affaires of Russia was summoned and notified of the expulsion of nine persons "working at the Embassy of Russia identified as intelligence officers."

The Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was breached Tuesday with Moscow and Kyiv exchanging blame for the destruction of the dam which supplied water to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and Crimea --which was annexed by Russia in 2014.