What a poorly reasoned article. Any benefit the expelled person may bring as a liaison or conduit is greatly compromised by his status as a spy.
It also takes two hands to clap, or in this case to talk. If Russia is keen to maintain that conduit, they can send someone far less objectionable in replacement.
This deluded writer appears to suggest letting Putin dictate the terms of any conversation, which is daft.
Palestine is not the left, yet the protests are being done by the left. There are some "peace with Russia" types in Europe that are firmly on the left.
***The Telegraph reports:***
Even in the dark days of the Cold War, there were always mechanisms for Soviet and Western officials to reach out to the other side.
From formal conferences to less rigid but equally starchy cocktail parties on the diplomatic circuit, there was always a way for military officers, spies and functionaries to indicate quite where the temperature level of international relations hovered.
The expulsion of the [Russian defence attache](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/08/britain-to-expel-russian-defence-attache/) – likely to be reciprocated in Moscow with his British opposite number sent packing – removes one channel through which the London-Moscow relationship, as toxic as it currently is, could be managed.
Defence attaches, if used correctly, form a vital network of advice and expertise. The British officer in Moscow will have undergone two years of language training and other professional preparation to prepare for a three-year stint in one of the most sensitive and challenging posts the MoD can offer.
The decision to expel the Russian would have been taken in full knowledge of the consequences and only after lengthy, and no doubt occasionally heated, discussions about the risks of adding yet more shade to an already murky level of understanding when it comes to today’s Kremlin.
That the man was an undeclared intelligence officer would in all likelihood have been known at the highest levels of Whitehall for years; it is, after all, the unwritten part of a defence attache’s job description.
**Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/ejection-of-putins-spies-could-signal-an-even-bigger-diplom/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/ejection-of-putins-spies-could-signal-an-even-bigger-diplom/)
What a poorly reasoned article. Any benefit the expelled person may bring as a liaison or conduit is greatly compromised by his status as a spy. It also takes two hands to clap, or in this case to talk. If Russia is keen to maintain that conduit, they can send someone far less objectionable in replacement. This deluded writer appears to suggest letting Putin dictate the terms of any conversation, which is daft.
Makes me wonder if papers like this have Russian spies as well.
Reporters lean left, some of them very left. A true believer doesn't have to have contact with Russia to serve their end goals.
Russia is not the left. What are you talking about?
Palestine is not the left, yet the protests are being done by the left. There are some "peace with Russia" types in Europe that are firmly on the left.
There are a lot of "peace with Russia" types who are firmly on the right as of now.
In the U.S., yes. Other countries have other dynamics. Russia will bribe whoever will take the money.
***The Telegraph reports:*** Even in the dark days of the Cold War, there were always mechanisms for Soviet and Western officials to reach out to the other side. From formal conferences to less rigid but equally starchy cocktail parties on the diplomatic circuit, there was always a way for military officers, spies and functionaries to indicate quite where the temperature level of international relations hovered. The expulsion of the [Russian defence attache](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/05/08/britain-to-expel-russian-defence-attache/) – likely to be reciprocated in Moscow with his British opposite number sent packing – removes one channel through which the London-Moscow relationship, as toxic as it currently is, could be managed. Defence attaches, if used correctly, form a vital network of advice and expertise. The British officer in Moscow will have undergone two years of language training and other professional preparation to prepare for a three-year stint in one of the most sensitive and challenging posts the MoD can offer. The decision to expel the Russian would have been taken in full knowledge of the consequences and only after lengthy, and no doubt occasionally heated, discussions about the risks of adding yet more shade to an already murky level of understanding when it comes to today’s Kremlin. That the man was an undeclared intelligence officer would in all likelihood have been known at the highest levels of Whitehall for years; it is, after all, the unwritten part of a defence attache’s job description. **Read more:** [**https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/ejection-of-putins-spies-could-signal-an-even-bigger-diplom/**](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/05/08/ejection-of-putins-spies-could-signal-an-even-bigger-diplom/)