Russia says expelling two British ‘diplomats’ on spying charges

MOSCOW (AFP) : Russia said Monday it was expelling two British “diplomats” on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities.

Announcing the expulsion of the embassy’s second secretary and husband of the first secretary, Russia’s FSB security service said “counterintelligence work had revealed an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy.”

It said the two “deliberately provided false information when obtaining a permit to enter our country, thus violating Russian legislation.”

The UK did not immediately respond to the allegation.

The Russian foreign ministry has revoked their accreditations and ordered them to leave Russia within two weeks, the FSB said.

The ministry also summoned an embassy representative in connection with the allegations, it said in a post on Telegram.

Relations between Moscow and London have been strained by intelligence scandals throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century in power.

The UK accused Moscow of being behind the 2006 assassination of former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in a London poisoning attack.

And in 2018, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials they said were spies over the attempted poisoning of former double agent, Sergei Skripal, with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.

Monday’s announcement came as Russia shifts blame for the Ukraine conflict away from the United States to Europe, as US President Donald Trump’s administration seeks closer ties with the Kremlin.