Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022
The government said Wednesday it has expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British embassy staff in Moscow earlier this week.
The Foreign Office said it had summoned the Russian ambassador to the U.K., Andrei Kelin, to inform him of the expulsions, following what it described as an “increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats” that it said represented an attempt to drive the British embassy in Moscow towards closure.
“We will not tolerate the Kremlin’s relentless and unacceptable campaign of intimidation, nor their repeated attempts to threaten U.K. security,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on X.
No timeframe for their departure was immediately available.
On Monday, Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said in a statement quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti that the two British diplomats expelled had provided false personal data, while seeking permission to enter the country, and had engaged in alleged intelligence and subversive activities that threatened Russia’s security. It didn’t offer any evidence.
According to the RIA Novosti report, a decision has been made to revoke the diplomats’ accreditations and they have been ordered to leave Russia within two weeks.
“The depths to which Russia sinks can only be met through strength,” the U.K.’s Foreign Office said. “We have drawn a line under this incident and demand Russia do the same. Any further action taken by Russia will be considered an escalation and responded to accordingly.”
Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
But embassy expulsions between the U.K. and Russia have been strained for even longer. Tensions escalated sharply in March 2018 when a former Russian intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, and his daughter, were poisoned in the southern England city of Salisbury with the Novichok nerve agent in what British authorities said was a targeted murder attempt coming from Moscow — a charge the Kremlin described as nonsense.
Russia is attempting to push the UK embassy in Moscow towards closing and has no regard for the escalatory impact of such a move, the Foreign Office has said.
The UK expelled a Russian diplomat and their spouse on Wednesday in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of a British diplomat and a diplomatic spouse over allegations of espionage that UK officials strenuously deny.
In a strongly worded statement, the Foreign Office said: “During the past 12 months, Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats, pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work.
“Russia’s expulsion this week of a British diplomat and diplomatic spouse is yet another escalation. The accusations made against these individuals are entirely false, fabricated in order to justify their increasing harassment of UK diplomats.
“It is clear that the Russian state is actively seeking to drive the British embassy in Moscow towards closure and has no regard for the dangerous escalatory impact of this.” A senior Foreign Office official summoned the Russian ambassador, Andrey Kelin, and told him that the UK would not stand for the intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.
The official said: “We do not take this decision lightly but we have always made clear to Russia that if they escalate, we will take reciprocal action. The depths to which Russia sinks can only be met through strength.”
The foreign secretary, David Lammy, on his way to a meeting with his G7 counterparts in Canada, said: “We will not tolerate the Kremlin’s relentless and unacceptable campaign of intimidation, nor their repeated attempts to threaten UK security.”
The Foreign Office stressed that it believed in keeping diplomatic lines of communication open and said it would regard the latest episode as closed so long as Russia did not seek to escalate further. In throwing out the British pair, Moscow said it “will not tolerate the presence of undeclared British intelligence personnel in Russia”.
The FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence service, said the two people expelled were the embassy’s second secretary and the spouse of another diplomat. It said it had uncovered “signs of espionage and sabotage work” by both of them.
