Russia expelled Swedish envoy amid spy row-radio

STOCKHOLM, May 24 (Reuters) Moscow has expelled a junior Swedish diplomat in retaliation for the arrest of a Russian scientist on suspicion of spying, though the scientist was later released, Swedish radio said today.

Quoting sources in the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the radio report said the expelled diplomat was a low level official at the embassy in Moscow. He was sent home a few weeks ago in what was a direct link to the spying case, it added.

Neither the Swedish nor the Russian Foreign Ministry would comment on the report.

Sweden arrested Russian researcher Andrei Zamyatnin in February, suspecting of him of spying for a foreign power at Uppsala university's agricultural genetics laboratory.

The arrest sparked protests from Moscow, but in April Swedish Chief Prosecutor Tomas Lindstrand dropped the case for lack of evidence.

He said it could not be shown that Zamyatnin had put Swedish security or commercial interests at risk and that he had only passed to his embassy contact publicly available information.

The laboratory conducted research in fields such as genetic manipulation, viruses and plant spores.

The case brought back echoes of the Cold War, during which Sweden's proximity to Russia and its neutrality made it a hot spot for spying. Several Swedes got heavy prison sentences for spying for the Soviet Union after World War Two.

REUTERS SHR VV 1750