Russian intelligence

The high-profile coup plot trial in Podgorica on Tuesday heard testimony from US security company executive Brian Scott, an ex-CIA operative who the prosecution claims offered to evacuate opposition politicians and protesters from parliament during a violent overthrow of the government that was allegedly planned for October 2016.

The G7 Foreign Ministers endorsed the UK position that Russia was "highly likely" responsible for the poisoning of former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the United Kingdom, reports Sputnik.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov told media on Tuesday that the unnamed Russian diplomat was expelled in solidarity with Britain over the Sergei Skripal poisoning, but also for domestic security reasons.

Dimitrov said the decision "was made after careful deliberation and analysis" and was "based on two elements".

More than 130 Russian diplomats have been ordered to leave capital cities across the globe, as the West unites behind Britain over the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

Some 60 Russians are to be expelled from the US, while suspected intelligence officers in Canada, Ukraine, Australia, Albania, Macedonia and a number of EU states will also be ejected.

Albania expelled two Russian diplomats on Monday, as the EU aspirant country joined the UK, the EU, the US and Canada in a coordinated response to the nerve agent poisoning of  Sergei Skripal, a former Russian intelligence official, and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury England.

Polish counterintelligence AWB reported on arresting a Polish official on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence services.

Russia is preparing retaliatory measures against the U.K. over its decision to expel 23 Russian diplomats, the Kremlin said today, promising they would "not be long in coming."

"They are being formulated in the foreign ministry and in other bodies," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing call, adding that president Vladimir Putin will make the final decision.

A Russian intelligence team was unable to crack the phone of Mevlüt Mert Altıntaş, the assassin who in late 2016 shot dead former Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov, daily Hürriyet reported on March 9.

Former Russian intelligence colonel Sergei Skripal has suffered severely after contact with an unknown substance at a shopping center in the English town of Salisbury, the BBC reported.

Russian intelligence services have thwarted 60 terrorist attacks this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.