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media in the Nordics are currently acting like it's a huge revelation that there's lots of Russian spies here that operate under diplomatic cover.
I wish they'd be honest about the fact this is normal, the security services know, and there's good reasons for not expelling them.
it's an open secret that spies use diplomatic cover, and not just Russian ones. presumably there's Swedish spies in Moscow too. none of this is news to the intelligence services, they know which “diplomats” are probably spies and keep a close eye on them.
but since it's a mutual thing, of course the states involved will pretend they don't know which ones are spies. they don't want to give away how much they know or how they know it, but more importantly, if Sweden kicks out Russian spies, Russia will kick out Swedish spies!
moreover, the other side could retalliate by kicking out “spies” that are actually normal diplomats, deliberately or not.
you also prefer it when the spies are operating under diplomatic cover because it's much easier to keep tabs on them that way. NOC spies are harder to find!
the only people who benefit from pretending this is some huge revelation are sensationalising journalists and opposition politicians who see no problem with lying to voters about what they'd do when in government.