UK expels Russian diplomat after spying row

A Russian diplomat has been expelled from the UK successful the latest escalation of a tit-for-tat spat aft Moscow threw retired a British authoritative past year.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said enactment had been taken "following Russia's caller expulsion of a British diplomat" successful November.

Moscow accused the diplomat of giving mendacious accusation and spying arsenic grounds for asking him to leave.

The authorities said the UK "will not basal for intimidation of our unit successful this way" and that "any further enactment taken by Russia volition beryllium considered an escalation and responded to accordingly".

Russia's ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin, who has been successful station since 2019, was summoned to the Foreign Office to beryllium informed 1 of his diplomats was having their accreditation revoked.

An accreditation is simply a designation by a authorities of a diplomat's status, and gives them definite immunities depending connected rank.

"We are unapologetic astir protecting our nationalist interests," Lammy said.

"My connection to Russia is wide - if you instrumentality enactment against us, we volition respond."

The Kremlin has yet to remark publically connected the expulsion.

Moscow revoked the British diplomat's accreditation successful November, accusing them of spying and ordering the idiosyncratic to permission the state wrong 2 weeks.

Russian state-run quality agencies reported that the country's information work FSB had accused the diplomat of providing mendacious accusation connected his documents and carrying retired espionage activities.

His photograph and sanction was besides shared connected Russian TV bulletins.

At the time, the Foreign Office dismissed Russia's accusations arsenic "baseless" and said it was considering a response.

Russia antecedently said it planned to instrumentality further enactment should the UK respond to its ain expulsion.

Diplomatic relations betwixt the UK and Russia person worsened since the latter's full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful 2022.

Since then, expulsions of diplomats person go progressively common.

In September past year, Russia announced that the accreditation of six British diplomats successful Moscow had been revoked, requiring them to permission the country.

And successful May, British diplomat Capt Adrian Coghill was fixed a week to permission Russia, days aft the Russian defence attaché was expelled from London for alleged espionage arsenic an "undeclared subject quality officer".

A fig of British politicians and members of the property person besides been barred from entering Russia since the warfare began, including elder authorities officials and journalists from the BBC, Sky News and Channel 4.

Most recently, 30 much people, including Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and different Labour furniture members, were added to Russia's "stop list".

Lammy and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer were added to the database successful 2022, arsenic was now-Conservative person Kemi Badenoch.