Russia’s Federal Security Service has accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation. State media has reported that they are being expelled from the country.
The move comes two days after the United States and Britain pledged more than £1.1billion in additional aid to Ukraine, and as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.
The FSB said it received documents indicating that the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the UK Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.”
Russian state TV said in a report that the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” – a label the Russian authorities have actively used against organisations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.
The British Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Foreign Office has also been contacted by Express.co.uk.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an online statement that “We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB.
“The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.”
She said the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”
Russian news agency RIA Novosti, posting on Telegram, said: “The FSB reported that it had received documents confirming London’s coordination of the escalation of the international military-political situation.
“The main structure coordinating subversive policy in the Russian direction and in the CIS was named as the Directorate of Eastern Europe and Central Asia of the British Foreign Office, which has become a special service whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
“According to the Russian special service, the accreditation of six employees of the political department of the British embassy in Moscow has been terminated; signs of intelligence and subversive work were found in their actions.
“The FSB also stated that it will demand early termination of the work of British diplomats in Russia if such signs are found in their work.”
Explusions of diplomats – both Western diplomats working in Russia and Russian diplomats working in Western countries – have become increasingly common since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Russian news outlet RBC counted last year that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the beginning of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow expelled 346 diplomats in response. According to RBC, it was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
In May the UK expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying.