France Expels 3 at Soviet Embassy After Spy Incident
France today expelled three members of the Soviet Embassy for “activities that have no relation to their mission or status” in the wake of the discovery of a spying operation targeted at the European Ariane rocket.
A brief Foreign Ministry announcement did not identify the expelled Soviets.
Six people were arrested March 16 on charges of suspicion of industrial spying on the building of engines for the Ariane rocket, the chief competitor to the U.S. space shuttle for commercial launching of satellites into space.
Government sources then said the spy ring was managed by Valery Konorev, the air force attache at the Soviet Embassy. The Soviets have repeatedly denied the charges.
The ministry statement said the three people were expelled for “activities that have no relation to their mission or status,” standard wording in the case of diplomats expelled for espionage.
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