Russia has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow on accusations of espionage, just as Keir Starmer lands in Washington to discuss letting Ukraine use long-range missiles deep inside Russian territory.
The FSB security agency said on Friday it had taken the measure after uncovering documents showing that part of the Foreign Office was helping coordinate what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” in Ukraine.
The Guardian understands the move was made several months ago, after the Metropolitan police charged a group of British men with planning an arson attack against Ukrainian-linked businesses on behalf of the Russian state. But it was only announced in a statement on Friday morning just as the British prime minister prepares for crunch talks with the US president, Joe Biden, over allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, has been pushing for months for permission to use the missiles, including during talks this week with the British foreign secretary, David Lammy, and the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. Sources say Britain and the US have decided to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles, but are not yet ready to announce it and are unlikely to do so during Starmer’s trip.
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, warned on Thursday night that such a move would put Nato countries “at war with Russia”. Starmer, however, told reporters on the trip to Washington: “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. Ukraine has the right to self-defence.”
The FSB said in its statement: “The facts revealed give grounds to consider the activities of British diplomats sent to Moscow by the directorate as threatening the security of the Russian Federation.”
It added: “In this connection, on the basis of documents provided by the Federal Security Service of Russia and as a response to the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London, the ministry of foreign affairs of Russia, in cooperation with the agencies concerned, has terminated the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British embassy in Moscow in whose actions signs of spying and sabotage were found.”
The six diplomats were named on Russian state TV, which also showed photographs of them.
An FSB employee told Rossiya-24: “The English did not take our hints about the need to stop this practice [of carrying out intelligence activities inside Russia], so we decided to expel these six to begin with.”
The FSB said Russia would ask other British diplomats to return home if they were found to be engaged in similar activity.
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The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, was cited by the state Tass news agency as saying the activities of the British embassy in Moscow had gone beyond diplomatic convention, accusing it of carrying out deliberate activity designed to harm the Russian people.
The Foreign Office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.