Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying and ‘subversive activities’

Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them, an announcement that comes as tensions between Moscow and the West grow during an intensified push by Ukraine to loosen restrictions on using weapons provided by the U.S. and Britain to strike Russia.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement Friday that a decision was made to withdraw their accreditations, and Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying a decision was made to expel them. The U.K. said the expulsions took place last month.

The move comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks with President Joe Biden that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.

Starmer said on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.” “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.

“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.

The FSB said it received documents indicating that the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.”

Based on these documents and “in response to numerous unfriendly steps by London,” the Russian Foreign Ministry withdrew the accreditation of the diplomats, the FSB said, without identifying them. It warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” the agency “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian state TV said in a report that the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label the Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.

Britain called the allegations against the diplomats “completely baseless.” It said the expulsions happened weeks ago, linking them to Britain’s decision in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at Moscow’s London embassy and to impose a five-year time limit on all Russian diplomats in Britain.

In May the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. About a week later, Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché.

“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of 6 U.K. diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the U.K. government in response to Russian state directed activity across Europe and in the U.K.,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in an online statement that “We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB. The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.” She said the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.K. is not on the table right now.

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western diplomats working in Russia and Russian diplomats working in Western countries — have become increasingly common since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian news outlet RBC counted last year that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the beginning of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow expelled 346 diplomats in response. According to RBC, it was more than in the previous 20 years combined.