Russia Expels British Diplomat On Suspicion Of Espionage – The Russian government has reportedly expelled a British diplomat on suspicion of espionage. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said the diplomat was carrying out espionage and sabotage activities that endangered the security of the Russian Federation, the state news agency reported.
Russia Expels British Diplomat On Suspicion Of Espionage
lxnews – The FSB said the diplomat “deliberately provided false data when obtaining permission to enter our country, thereby violating Russian law.”
The FSB said the men expelled on Tuesday were among six British officials who were also expelled from Russia earlier this year on suspicion of espionage.
The developments come amid rising tensions between Russia and Western countries over the status of the conflict that began almost three years ago, with Russia confirming that it has detained a British citizen accused of fighting for Ukraine. Britain, meanwhile, has denied claims that one of its embassy staff was a spy. It is the latest in a series of spying allegations that have emerged as relations between the two countries have hit an all-time low.
Relations between the two countries have been repeatedly strained by spying allegations.
The clashes also saw Ukraine given permission to fire long-range missiles supplied by the UK into Russia, drawing taunts and threats of immediate military retaliation from President Vladimir Putin, and Russia championing Ukraine against the UK.
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Meanwhile, Moscow’s Foreign Ministry summoned British Ambassador Nigel Casey after FSB intelligence announced it had uncovered a British spy.
The FSB said the British diplomat, described as a second secretary at the embassy, appeared to have carried out “intelligence and sabotage activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation.”
“Moscow does not tolerate the undeclared activities of British agents on its territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that he was expelled for lying about his accreditation and visa application. Video broadcast by state media showed the ambassador arriving at the Foreign Ministry in central Moscow surrounded by journalists from state media.
The British government has rejected the claims and promised answers.
“This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our employees. We will respond appropriately,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
London and Moscow have expelled several diplomats from each other in recent years over spying allegations. A history of tensions between Russia and Britain
The FSB announced on Tuesday that the expulsion replaced one of six British officials who were also expelled by Russia earlier this year on suspicion of spying.
In the quarter-century since Putin took power, relations between the two capitals have been repeatedly strained by scandals and espionage allegations.
Britain accused Moscow of involvement in the 2006 poisoning attack in London that killed former Russian intelligence officer and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko.
And in 2018, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy staff for spying in connection with the attempted poisoning of former double agent Sergei Skripal with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Skripal survived the Novichok attack, but a British civilian died after coming into contact with a contaminated perfume bottle, sparking an uproar in London. Russophobic Politics
In a symbolic move, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced it would ban a number of ministers from entering the country, citing London’s “Russophobic” policies.
The targets included Prime Minister Rachel Reeves, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Ryder, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and the Ministers for Education, Environment, Health and Energy.
Since ordering the troop deployment to Ukraine, Russia has placed hundreds of Western politicians, analysts, journalists and business leaders on a so-called “stop list” that the Kremlin says is designed to prevent Western troops from being sent to other countries, freezing their assets and preventing them from traveling. This is seen as a response to the ban.
A court in Russia’s western Kursk region also confirmed on Tuesday that a British citizen accused of fighting for Ukraine had been arrested and detained.
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James Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, was detained on suspicion of “participating in armed hostilities in the Kursk region.” It was the first time Russia has officially confirmed Anderson’s arrest after an unverified video was posted on a pro-Kremlin Telegram channel over the weekend.
The Leninsky Court in Kursk said he was suspected of “committing a series of particularly serious crimes that pose a danger to society,” but did not specify what crimes he was accused of.
Russia considers foreigners who travel to Ukraine to fight as “mercenaries” and allows them to be prosecuted under criminal law rather than treated as prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
In 2022, a court in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine sentenced two British fighters to death for fighting for Ukraine, but they were later released as part of a prisoner-for-prisoner swap.
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Russian state television said in a report that six British diplomats had been identified as “foreign agents” (a term actively used by Russian authorities for organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin), independent media and human rights groups reported. The British Embassy in Moscow did not respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate comment from the UK Foreign Office.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “We fully agree with the assessment of the Russian Federal Security Service of the activities of British diplomats.” The British Embassy has exceeded the limits set by the Vienna Convention.
Zakharova asserted that the six British diplomats committed acts of sabotage aimed at harming Russia.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, expulsions of diplomats (both Western diplomats working in Russia and Russian diplomats working in Western countries) have become increasingly common. Russian news outlet RBC reported last year that Western countries and Japan expelled a total of 670 Russian diplomats from early 2022 to October 2023, and in response, the Russian government expelled 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that’s more than in the last 20 years combined.
In May, the UK expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London as an undeclared intelligence officer and closed several Russian diplomatic facilities in the UK that were allegedly used for espionage purposes.
