The Russian Foreign Ministry has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats after detecting “indications of espionage and sabotage activities,” according to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). The decision was taken on the basis of documentation provided by the security services and “in response to numerous hostile actions by London,” the FSB said in a statement cited by Russia’s official TASS news agency.
The FBS also warned that it would ask other British diplomats to leave if it found them carrying out similar activities, according to Reuters.
An FSB officer told state television channel Rossia-24 anonymously that Russian authorities decided to expel the six diplomats after “the British did not pay attention to suggestions to stop the activities” of espionage.
The intelligence officer said the diplomats who were denied accreditation were three men and three women. “Classic British espionage, fun to watch, but it was too much,” he added.
According to Rossia-24, the six diplomats deprived of accreditation work in the Political Department of the British Embassy in Moscow.
The spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zajarova, regretted that the British diplomatic mission in her country had gone “well beyond the limits set by the Vienna Conventions.” “But the most important thing is that we are not only talking about the formal side of the problem and the non-compliance with declared activities, but about actions that seek to harm our people,” she added in statements collected by EFE.
