The diplomatic expulsion

Latvia will expel a Russian diplomat accused of trying to spy on NATO infrastructure in the Baltic state. A spokeswoman for the foreign ministry, Dagnija Stukena, told Friday that the Russian diplomat being expelled for ``attempting to find out about NATO military infrastructure'' in Latvia. The Russians were told Friday to have the diplomat out of the country in 72 hours. The Russian foreign ministry called the expulsion an act of provocation and threatened to retaliate without specifying what action it might take. ``The act of provocation by officials in Riga ... fits in with the anti-Russian course of the current Latvian leadership,'' the ministry said in a statement. Latvia was one of seven ex-Soviet bloc nations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, in March. It is slated join the European Union in May.