The Kremlin said on Thursday that NATO’s decision to reduce the size of Russia’s diplomatic representation has almost totally dashed its expectations of normalizing relations and resuming dialogue with the US-led alliance.

A NATO spokesman said on Wednesday that eight members of Russia’s mission to the alliance had been expelled because they were “undeclared Russian intelligence officers,” the latest blow to East-West relations, which are already at post-Cold War lows.

“There is a clear contradiction between NATO representatives’ claims about their intention to normalize relations with our nation and their real actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Peskov said NATO’s actions did not suggest relations could be normalized and dialogue resumed. “In fact, these prospects are almost completely undermined.”

Sky News reported that Moscow’s mission to NATO headquarters in Brussels would be halved “in response to suspected malign Russian activities, including killings and espionage”.

Reuters was not able to confirm the reasons cited by Sky News for the reduction of the Russian delegation.

In 2018, in the wake of the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in the English city of Salisbury, NATO withdrew agreement for the appointment of seven staff accredited to the Russian mission to the alliance, and denied pending accreditation requests for three others.

The North Atlantic Council, the NATO assembly, also reduced the maximum size of the Russian mission by 10 people from the previous 30.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko on Wednesday accused NATO of duplicity. A pro-Kremlin lawmaker promised that Moscow would retaliate, though not necessarily in kind.