Russian accusations that six British diplomats engaged in “spying and sabotage” in Moscow are “completely baseless”, the Foreign Office has said.
The Russian FSB security service said on Friday it had expelled the group after it obtained documents showing that a Foreign Office department was overseeing the “escalation of the political and military situation”, including plans for the strategic defeat of Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.
Responding to the Kremlin move, the Foreign Office said: “The accusations made today by the FSB against our staff are completely baseless.
“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the UK.”
It added: “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”
The diplomats were expelled after Russian counter-intelligence officers became “tired” of chasing them around Moscow as they engaged in “classic British espionage”, an FSB employee told state-controlled news channel Rossiya-24.
Tactics reportedly included making rapid changes of public transport and “sitting for several hours on benches in the freezing cold” as they waited to meet members from banned groups.
Their spouses were allegedly deployed as spies, while young children were used to “cover up” their spying activity, the officer added. “Basically, one cannot speak of any diplomatic etiquette,” the FSB officer told the news channel.
‘Signs of spying and sabotage’
The move comes after Vladimir Putin warned Britain and the United States they would be “at war” with Russia if they gave Ukraine permission to use Western long-range missiles to strike targets across the border.
“Thus, the facts revealed give grounds to consider the activities of British diplomats sent to Moscow by the directorate as threatening the security of the Russian Federation,” the FSB said in a statement.
“In this connection, on the basis of documents provided by the Federal Security Service of Russia and as a response to the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in cooperation with the agencies concerned, has terminated the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British Embassy in Moscow in whose actions signs of spying and sabotage were found,” it said.
Pro-Kremlin propagandists published details on Friday of what they claimed was a UK Foreign Office department used to “wage a hybrid war with Russia”.
Its channel on the Telegram messaging app said they were involved in the dissemination of pro-Western information throughout Russia, where the media is mostly controlled by Putin’s Kremlin.
‘The English did not take our hints… so we decided to expel them’
“The English did not take our hints about the need to stop this practice (of carrying out intelligence activities inside Russia), so we decided to expel these six to begin with,” an FSB employee told the Rossiya-24 state TV channel.
The FSB threatened to expel other British diplomats if they were found to be involved in the alleged activities.
Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesman, told the Tass news agency that the British embassy in Moscow had gone beyond diplomatic convention.
Britain has previously expelled Russian diplomats it has accused of being involved in spying and espionage.
Maxim Elovik, its former defence attache in the country, was thrown out as part of sanctions introduced by James Cleverly, the former Home Secretary, to crack down on “malign” Russian activity in Britain and Europe.
