Russia’s Federal Security Service on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said a decision has been made to withdraw their accreditation.
Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying that they will be expelled. The move comes two days after the United States and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine, and as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.
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.”
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.
The British Embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press. There was no immediate comment from Britain’s Foreign Office.
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.”
