What did Russia's NATO mission move signal in October 2021?

What was the state of relations between Russia and the West on 21 October 2021? Two reports from the preceding days offer a snapshot.

On 18 October 2021, Russia announced that it would suspend its mission to NATO in Brussels as early as 1 November. Moscow said the step was a response to the expulsion earlier that month of eight diplomats from the mission, who had been accused of espionage. The announcement also covered the NATO information bureau and the military liaison in Moscow, both of which were to be terminated.

On 19 October 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced that it had raided the Washington, D.C. house of Oleg Deripaska, a Russian oligarch and ally of Vladimir Putin. The U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned him in 2018.

Taken together, the two reports show diplomatic channels being cut back and law-enforcement action reaching a sanctioned figure close to the Kremlin. For readers following Kyiv's security environment, they were part of the wider backdrop in the days around 21 October 2021, though neither report addressed Ukraine directly.