Russia expels two British diplomats as it negotiates to restore US ties
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Russia said the two diplomats had provided false information when obtaining permission to enter Russia.
PHOTO: AFP
MOSCOW - Russia accused two British diplomats of spying on March 10 and gave them two weeks to leave the country, maintaining the downward trajectory of diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States.
Britain’s Foreign Office rejected the allegations against its diplomats as “baseless”.
Moscow has been angered by Britain’s continued military support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent statements about putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force.
The expulsions also come days after three Bulgarians were found guilty in a London court of being part of a Russian spy unit run by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to carry out surveillance on a US military base and other individuals targeted by Moscow.
The two Britons appear to be the first Western diplomats to be expelled from Russia since Moscow and Washington opened talks on restoring staff at US and Russian embassies depleted by tit-for-tat expulsions, part of US President Donald Trump’s rapprochement with the Kremlin that has alarmed European allies.
Similar expulsions have sharply curtailed the functioning of Russian embassies across the West and Western missions in Russia since Moscow launched its full-blown assault on Ukraine
Russia’s Federal Security Service said the two diplomats had provided false information when obtaining permission to enter Russia, and it had “identified signs of intelligence and subversive work” they had carried out, harming Russian security.
The Kremlin said Russia’s intelligence services were doing everything necessary to safeguard national security.
Responding to Moscow’s decision, Britain’s Foreign Office said in a statement: “This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned a representative of the British embassy over the expulsions and had complained that the diplomats were “undeclared” employees of Britain’s intelligence services, something Moscow would not tolerate.
The ministry said it would “respond in kind” if London now decided to “escalate” the situation.
Russian police in February opened a criminal investigation into an alleged assault on a freelance journalist by a person believed to be an employee of the British embassy, an allegation London dismissed as “an interference operation” designed to intimidate legitimate diplomats.
That announcement came a day after Britain announced it was expelling a Russian diplomat in retaliation for Moscow throwing out a British diplomat last November.
Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war.
Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine. REUTERS
