New Zealand would expel Russian spies if they had any
Expelling Russian spies and diplomats is the hot new trend for spring, and New Zealand would like to participate. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) for the Kiwis, they have no Russian spies to expel.
"We have done a check in New Zealand," said Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in an interview Tuesday. "We don't have Russian undeclared intelligence officers here. If we did, we would expel them." Ardern added she is unsurprised by this lack, as New Zealand does not figure significantly in Russia's foreign affairs.
The U.S., Australia, Britain, and nearly a dozen other European countries have collectively kicked out dozens of Moscow's envoys. They acted in response to the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter who were living in Britain, a crime of which Russia is accused.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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