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Russia's ambassador has been summoned to the UK Foreign Office implicit the expulsion of six British diplomats from Moscow, the authorities has said.
A Foreign Office spokesperson accused Russia of making "malicious and wholly baseless accusations" against its staff, aft Moscow claimed the diplomats were engaged successful spying.
A connection accused Russia of carrying retired a "malicious and deliberate nationalist run of aggression against the UK".
Russia revoked the accreditation of the diplomats connected 13 September, with the country's concealed service, the FSB, saying it had received documents indicating Britain's engagement successful inflicting "a strategical defeat" connected Russia.
In a statement, the Foreign Office spokesperson said the Kremlin was acting against an planetary pact governing diplomatic relations.
Russia was carrying retired a "deliberate campaign" aimed astatine undermining and threatening the UK's security, arsenic good arsenic deterring its enactment for Ukraine, the spokesperson added.
The Foreign Office said this run was being carried retired done "disinformation, acts of sabotage successful Europe and nonstop harassment and restrictions against our diplomatic missions successful Russia".
"This run volition not succeed. Russia indispensable halt this enactment immediately," the connection added.
A quality unit stationed extracurricular the Foreign Office gathering successful London were told by constabulary connected Wednesday day the ambassador, Andrei Kelin, had been and near a fewer hours earlier.
Diplomatic accreditation is fixed by the big federation to recognise a person’s diplomatic status, arsenic acceptable retired by the UN.
Without it, a idiosyncratic does not person authoritative diplomatic status.
While the BBC understands the diplomats progressive near Russia galore weeks earlier being officially expelled, Moscow's announcement coincided with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's sojourn to Washington, wherever helium met US President Joe Biden.
They were owed to sermon whether to let Ukraine to fire Western long-range missiles astatine targets wrong Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested up of this travel that Moscow would respect this arsenic a superior escalation successful the war, which equates to the "direct participation" of Nato countries.
The diplomats involved, who were were named and pictured connected Russian authorities TV, were the latest successful a superior of akin expulsions - which person go progressively communal since Russia's full-scale penetration of Ukraine successful February 2022.
Earlier this year, 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".
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