The recent mutual expulsion of diplomats between Russia and Spain will not harm bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
"I see no reason why these [diplomatic] withdrawals would negatively affect the general course of our relations," Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.
The Spanish El Pais daily reported in late December that two Russian diplomats had been expelled from Spain in November on suspicion of economic espionage.
The Kremlin responded by expelling two Spanish diplomats in December.
2011 has been designated a year of cultural exchanges between the two countries, with Russia celebrating a "Year of Spain" and Spain a "Year of Russia."
Spanish Foreign Minister Trinidad Jimenez is due to visit Moscow on January 17.
Earlier in December, Russia and Britain expelled a diplomat each in another tit-for-tat espionage row.
MOSCOW, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
