Russia expels British diplomat over spying claims

Russia expelled a British diplomat after accusing him of espionage Tuesday, its Federal Security Service (FSB) announced.

The move — branded “baseless” by the British government — marks the latest tit-for-tat amid mounting tensions over the war in Ukraine.

A statement from the FSB accused a senior British diplomat at the Moscow embassy of “deliberately giving false information in obtaining an entry permit to our country, thereby violating Russian law.”

The security service also said that the diplomat had shown “signs of conducting subversive intelligence work, threatening the national security of the Russian Federation.”

On those grounds, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has ordered the diplomat to leave Russia within two weeks. U.K. Ambassador to Russia Nigel Casey has also been summoned to the foreign ministry.

“This is not the first time Putin’s government has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff,” a Downing Street spokesperson told reporters Tuesday afternoon.

“We refute these allegations. They’re baseless, and we are now considering our response.”

It comes amid deepening hostility between the U.K. and Russia over the war in Ukraine.

British-made long-range missiles were widely reported to have been used inside Russia last week, while the Kremlin pushed back Monday at the suggestion floated in Le Monde of British or French boots on the ground in Ukraine.

In May, the British government expelled Russia’s London defense attaché after accusing him of spying for the Kremlin. Six British diplomats who were expelled from Russia in September for, among other things, meeting with Kremlin-critical rights activists and journalists.