Russia expels six British diplomats as East-West tensions rise over Ukraine missiles By Reuters
Written by Andrew Osborn
(Reuters) – Russia's FSB security service said on Friday it had revoked the accreditation of six British lawyers in Moscow after accusing them of espionage and sabotage, underscoring the Kremlin's anger at what it sees as London's significant role in helping Ukraine.
The British embassy in Moscow and the UK government did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Russia announced this expulsion hours before scheduled talks in Washington between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden on the next steps to support Ukraine, which focused on allowing Western missiles to be used to hit targets in Russia.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that the West would be fighting Russia directly if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles made in the West, a move he said would change the nature and scale of the conflict.
The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet KGB, said it had documents showing that the British Foreign Office's department in London for Eastern Europe and Central Asia coordinated what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” and was commissioned. by ensuring the strategic defeat of Russia in its war with Ukraine.
“The revealed facts give reasons to consider the activities of British diplomats sent to Moscow by the director's office as a threat to the security of the Russian Federation,” the FSB statement said.
“On the basis of documents provided by the Federal Security Service of Russia and as a response to the many unfriendly measures taken by London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in cooperation with the relevant agencies, terminated the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British Embassy in Moscow who were found to have signs of espionage and sabotage,” said this newspaper.
Six politicians were named on Russian state television, which also showed their photos. Surveillance footage has also been released to Russian media, including a secret video surveillance of the British ambassador meeting someone.
“The British did not take our advice about the need to stop this practice (of conducting espionage activities inside Russia), so we decided to expel these six,” an FSB employee whose identity has been withheld told Russia-24. TV channel.
The FSB said Russia would ask other British diplomats to go home early if they were found to be carrying out similar work.
The Izvestia newspaper quoted the FSB as saying that British diplomats recruited Russian youths, organized what they called provocations, and held talks at the British embassy in Moscow with dissidents.
He accused British diplomats of working with Russian activists to try to create divisions in Russian society between different races and immigrants and said that most of the people involved in coordinating Britain's work in Ukraine based in London and Kyiv were working for the MI6 foreign intelligence service.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the actions of the British ambassador in Moscow went beyond the meetings of lawyers in Vienna.
“More importantly, it's not just a question of legality and not following the declared things, but treasonous actions aimed at harming our people,” Zakharova said on Telegram.
