UK expels Russian diplomat and spouse in tit-for-tat move against Moscow
LONDON — The UK has revoked accreditation for a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in a tit-for-tat response to the expulsion of two British embassy staff in Moscow this week.
The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said on Wednesday that it was taking "immediate reciprocal action" after Russia accused two British diplomats of spying and gave them a fortnight to leave the country.
The UK has rejected the claims, which were levelled on Monday, as "malicious" and "baseless".
Russia's ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, was summoned by the FCDO and informed of the latest expulsions. No timeframe was given for the pair's departure.
"During the past 12 months, Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats," the FCDO said in a statement.
"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."
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 February 2022.
In the past year alone, Russia has expelled seven British diplomats from the country over accusations of spying, which the UK has denied.
Last May, the UK expelled Russia's defense attaché in London, claiming he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and shut down several Russian diplomatic premises, alleging they were being used for espionage. Moscow quickly retaliated by expelling the UK's defense attaché.
And last month, London revoked the accreditation of another Russian diplomat, in retaliation to a similar move made by Moscow last November.
Tensions escalated sharply in March 2018 when former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned in the English city of Salisbury with the Novichok nerve agent. British authorities said the incident was a targeted murder attempt coming from Moscow, a claim the Kremlin described as nonsense.
More recently, the UK has provoked Russia's ire through its military support for Kyiv and Prime Minister Keir Starmer's comments about the possibility of deploying British peacekeepers to Ukraine to enforce any peace deal. — Euronews
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Saudi Gazette
13 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine under way
KYIV — A prisoner exchange is under way between Russia and Ukraine, governments in Moscow and Kyiv have confirmed. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exchange would unfold "in several stages" over the coming days, adding that the wounded, seriously wounded and soldiers under 25 were being returned. Writing on Telegram, Zelensky said: "The process is quite complicated, there are many sensitive details, negotiations continue virtually every day." Russia said a "similar number" of prisoners of war had been returned to Ukraine, though neither side provided an exact figure for how many people had been exchanged. Russia's defense ministry said "the first group of Russian servicemen under the age of 25 were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime" following an agreement reached between the warring countries last week during talks in Turkey. As with past exchanges, Moscow said the exchanged Russian soldiers were receiving psychological and medical assistance in the Ukrainian side, relatives of prisoners of war and the missing gathered in the Chernihiv region, close to the border with Belarus, to greet the released prisoners and, in many cases, seek news of others still in week, Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of disrupting the planned repatriation of the bodies of dead late May, Russia and Ukraine each handed over 390 soldiers and civilians in the biggest prisoner exchange since Russia launched the full-scale invasion in war continued overnight, with Moscow launching a record 479 drones at Ukraine, including on the western region of Rivne that had been largely spared from defence ministry said it had targeted Rivne's Dubno base and described this as "one of the retaliatory strikes" in response to Ukraine's audacious drone attacks on Russian airfields on 1 overnight Russian launches caused damage in several Ukrainian regions but there were no reports of has recently escalated its attacks on Ukraine, with each week bringing a new record of drones fired at the its part, Kyiv said it attacked another Russian airbase in the Nizhny Novgorod region, which lies 400 miles from the Ukrainian said the base houses planes that launch hypersonic missiles and that it had damaged "two units of enemy aircraft".It also targeted an electronics factory that Kyiv says manufactures equipment to guide drones and aerial shows one of the explosions caused by an attack drone, and a large fire at the plant. Production there has been suspended. — BBC
Saudi Gazette
13 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Iran says it obtained Israel's nuclear secrets without providing proof
TEHRAN — Iran claims it has obtained a large batch of information on Israel's nuclear program, its intelligence minister said on Sunday, without providing any evidence to support it. Speaking to Iranian state television after a cabinet meeting, Esmail Khatib said the Intelligence Ministry had acquired 'an important treasury of strategic, operational and scientific intelligence' from Israel, which he said had been 'transferred into the country with God's help.' Khatib alleged that thousands of documents had been seized, including information related to Europe, the US and other individual countries, though he did not explain how the intelligence was obtained. Khatib, a Shiite cleric who was sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2022 for his alleged involvement in cyber espionage, said the documents would be made public soon. He claimed they were retrieved through 'infiltration' and 'access to sources,' but offered no specifics or proof. The announcement, which came days before Tehran is expected to face renewed diplomatic pressure over its own atomic activities appears to be aimed at countering a high-profile Israeli intelligence operation in 2018. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his agents had smuggled out a 'half-tonne' of documents from Iran concerning its nuclear operation was cited by US President Donald Trump when he withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear accord with latest Iranian claims come as the board of governors at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) prepares to meet this week, with Western nations reportedly planning to censure Iran over its failure to clarify long-standing questions about its nuclear a move could lead to the issue being referred to the UN Security Council and potentially trigger the reimposition of UN sanctions under the 'snapback' mechanism outlined in the 2015 has signaled it will reject a US-backed proposal after five rounds of nuclear talks, raising concerns of a renewed is currently enriching uranium up to 60% purity — just short of the 90% level needed for nuclear weapons — and has stockpiled enough material to build several an agreement, analysts warn that Iran's already struggling economy could worsen further, potentially fuelling domestic risk of Israeli or US military action against Iranian nuclear sites also remains, amid fears that Tehran could sever cooperation with the IAEA and dash toward developing a nuclear weapon. — Euronews
Saudi Gazette
17 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Police arrest about 60 people in San Francisco after protests on ICE's raids turn violent
LOS ANGELES — Around 60 people, including people under the age of 18, were arrested Sunday in San Francisco after protests outside the Immigration Services building turned violent, authorities said. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside ICE's offices to rally against the agency's raids and deportations across California and the US, CNN affiliate KGO reported. The demonstration, initially peaceful, escalated into a tense standoff with San Francisco police officers in riot gear. 'We've been watching what's going on in LA, and we're like, no,' Nancy Kato, one of the protesters, told KGO. 'The whole thing about going after immigrants and people who are undocumented, the most vulnerable of our populations that is so wrong.' The protests began near Sansome and Washington streets — close to the city's Financial District — around 7:01 p.m., where San Francisco Police officers were monitoring the demonstration, the department said. The gathering escalated as some protesters, according to police, vandalized property, committed assaults, and caused other damage. Authorities declared the event an 'unlawful assembly,' leading many to leave, though some stayed behind. Two officers were injured, and one was taken to the hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said. The group eventually made its way to Market and Kearny streets, where protesters damaged buildings and an SFPD patrol car. A smaller group later gathered on Montgomery Street and refused to leave after being ordered to disperse. Police moved to detain people they say didn't comply. Police said it recovered one firearm at the scene. 'Individuals are always free to exercise their First Amendment rights in San Francisco,' the SFPD said in a statement. 'But violence — especially against SFPD officers — will never be tolerated.' The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities have not released additional details. Police are urging businesses and residents in Downtown Los Angeles to report 'any vandalism, damage or looting,' hours after police said they were investigating possible looting in the city's Financial District. On X, the LAPD said reporting the incidents will allow the department to officially document damage that occurs during the ongoing protests. 'Please photograph all vandalism and damage prior to clean up,' the LAPD wrote. Meanwhile, a British news photographer is recovering from emergency surgery after being struck by a non-lethal round while covering protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Los Angeles, PA Media, the UK's national news agency, reported on Monday. Nick Stern was documenting a standoff on Saturday between protesters and police outside a Home Depot in Paramount, a city in Los Angeles County known as a hiring site for day laborers, when a 14mm 'sponge bullet' tore into his thigh, the agency reported. 'My initial concern was, were they firing live rounds?' Stern told PA. 'Some of the protesters came and helped me, and they ended up carrying me, and I noticed that there was blood pouring down my leg.' After receiving first aid from a medic who urged him to seek hospital care, Stern says he passed out from the pain. He is now recovering at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. Stern, who emigrated to the United States in 2007, said he typically makes himself 'as visible as possible' while working in hostile environments. 'That way you're less likely to get hit because they know you're media.' He says he sustained 'substantial' bruising after being struck by another round during the George Floyd protests in 2020. 'An outside organization like ICE coming in and removing — whatever you want to call it, removing, kidnapping, abducting people from the community — is not going to go down well at all,' he said. 'I intend, as soon as I am well enough, to get back out there,' he said. 'This is too important, and it needs documenting.' — CNN
