Russia has announced the expulsion of six British diplomats, accusing them of espionage, as tensions between Moscow and the West escalate amidst Ukraine’s efforts to ease restrictions on using Western-supplied weaponry against Russia. The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia issued a statement on Friday confirming that the accreditations of the British diplomats were withdrawn. Russian state television also quoted an FSB official stating that the diplomats would be expelled.
This development coincides with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington for discussions with U.S. President Joe Biden, where Ukraine’s request to utilise Western-supplied weapons on Russian targets is expected to be on the agenda.
On his way to the U.S., Starmer reiterated Britain’s stance, stating, “We don’t seek any conflict with Russia. Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters, as quoted by news agency AP.
“Ukraine has the right to self-defence, and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defence — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he added.
The FSB revealed that documents it obtained indicated the diplomats had been dispatched to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office, whose primary objective was to inflict “a strategic defeat” on Russia. The diplomats were accused of engaging in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.” The FSB further warned that any other diplomats found engaging in similar actions would face early termination of their missions, as per AP’s report.
Russian state television reported that the expelled diplomats had interacted with independent media outlets and rights groups that have been labelled as “foreign agents” — a designation frequently applied to entities critical of the Kremlin, the report mentioned.
U.K. Calls Russia’s Spying Allegation ‘Completely Baseless’
In response to the accusations, the U.K.’s Foreign Office issued a statement, labelling the claims by Russia’s FSB as “completely baseless.” The statement read, “The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the UK. We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova backed the FSB’s stance, stating, “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.” Zakharova further accused the diplomats of engaging in “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”
Diplomatic expulsions have become more frequent since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. According to Russian news outlet RBC, Western countries and Japan expelled a total of 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow expelled 346 diplomats in retaliation. This marked an unprecedented level of diplomatic expulsions, exceeding the total for the previous two decades.
In May, the U.K. expelled Russia’s defence attaché in London, claiming he was an undeclared intelligence officer. Following this, Britain closed several Russian diplomatic properties, accusing them of being used for spying purposes. Moscow responded by expelling Britain’s defence attaché shortly after.
