Six British diplomats have been expelled from Moscow, with Russia’s secret service claiming that it had evidence of Britain’s involvement in inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia. The country’s ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, was subsequently summoned to the UK Foreign Office over the matter. A spokesperson for the Foreign Office accused Russia of engaging in “malicious and completely baseless accusations” against its staff, as well as carrying out a “malicious and deliberate public campaign of aggression against the UK”. Diplomatic accreditation is given by the host nation to recognise a person’s diplomatic status but without it, a person does not have official diplomatic status.
In response to the situation, the Foreign Office suggested that Russia was undertaking a campaign aimed at undermining and threatening UK security while deterring its support for Ukraine. This, according to the spokesperson, was being carried out via disinformation, acts of sabotage in Europe, and direct harassment and restrictions against diplomatic missions in Russia. The statement further called on Russia to end its activities immediately, asserting that Russia would not succeed in achieving its objectives.
Reports suggest the diplomats in question left Russia weeks before their official expulsion, yet Moscow announced their expulsion during Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Washington, where he met US President Joe Biden. The timing of the expulsion suggests a direct connection with Sir Keir and Biden’s talks on whether to allow Ukraine to fire Western long-range missiles at targets inside Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin warned before this meeting that it could escalate the war, indicating that it equates to the direct participation of NATO countries.
Such expulsions have become increasingly common since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Earlier this year, a British diplomat by the name of Capt Adrian Coghill was given a week to leave Russia, just days after a Russian defence attaché was expelled from London for alleged espionage as an “undeclared military intelligence officer
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