- The FSB security service allegedly discovered evidence that diplomats were spying
Six British diplomats have been expelled from Russia by the FSB security service, which said it had uncovered evidence that the envoys were involved in espionage and sabotage.
Britain’s embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but the diplomats, from the British embassy’s political department, are understood to have left Russia in early September.
Russia’s state-run Zvezda television channel, owned by the Defense Ministry, showed footage of the diplomats leaving Moscow and directly claimed they were “spies.”
“The British embassy employees expelled from Russia turned out to be spies,” the channel said. “Our special services found signs of intelligence and subversive activities.”
The FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said it had documents showing that a department of the British Foreign Office in London responsible for Eastern Europe and Central Asia was coordinating what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” and was tasked with ensuring Russia’s strategic defeat in its war against Ukraine.
“In this regard… the Russian Foreign Ministry has revoked the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British Embassy in Moscow whose actions were found to be indicative of espionage and sabotage,” the statement said.
The announcement comes as Britain is seen leading Western efforts to allow Ukraine to deploy long-range missiles on targets deep inside Russia, starting with the UK’s Storm Shadow missiles.
Sir Keir Starmer is due to discuss this prospect with US President Joe Biden later today.
Diplomats are seen loading a car before being ejected from the Embassy.
Residence of the British Ambassador in Moscow, Russia
The expulsions come at a time when the British embassy in Moscow, headed by Ambassador Nigel Casey, already has the smallest number of diplomats in Moscow for many decades.
“The British did not understand our hints about the need to stop this practice (of conducting intelligence activities inside Russia), that is why we decided to expel these six to begin with,” an FSB employee told state-run Rossiya-24 television.
The FSB said Russia would ask other British diplomats to return home early if they were found to be involved in similar activities.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state news agency TASS that the British embassy’s activities in Moscow had gone far beyond diplomatic convention and accused it of carrying out deliberate activities designed to harm the Russian people.
According to TV Zvezda: ‘Intelligence agents always work in the embassy of any country, it is a common diplomatic practice.
‘The other thing is that now, when global security is under threat, instead of building a dialogue with Russia, the embassy in Moscow, and more broadly the Foreign Office itself, have become a branch of British intelligence.’
The TV channel added: “The FSB does not rule out that the withdrawal of accreditation of six British diplomats is only the first step.
“The agency says it will continue to regard embassy staff in Moscow as being involved in British intelligence activities.”
The expulsions come at a time when the British embassy in Moscow, headed by Ambassador Nigel Casey, already has the smallest number of diplomats in Moscow for many decades.