The UK condemned the “malicious, unfounded accusations” and stated that “signs of intelligence and destructive work have been identified,” officials implemented.
Russia accused two British diplomats of spying on them and ordered them to leave the country within two weeks.
The Russian Federation Security Bureau (FSB) said Monday it accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of revoking its diplomat recognition and providing false information when it granted permission to enter Russia.
The Anti-Intelligence Agency further said it had “identified signs of intelligence and destructive work” carried out by the two staff, and it posed the safety of Russia.
This announcement comes as diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK continue to deteriorate following the former’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Friday, a London ju umpire convicted three British-based Bulgarians of conducting “industrial scale” spies for Russia.
Last week, a Russian court was also sentenced to prison in 19 years when a British man was captured while fighting for Ukraine in the Russian Kursk region.
Also in early February, the UK said it would retaliate for a similar move made by Russia last November, revoking its recognition of Russian diplomats.
The FSB did not identify the two diplomats by name, but said they were the second secretaries of the British Embassy and the husband of the first secretary who came to the country “under the cover of the national embassy.”
The Russian Foreign Ministry has also summoned representatives of the British Embassy in connection with the allegations.
In a statement, a spokesman for the UK’s Foreign Office condemned Russia’s latest expulsion and accusations of spying.
“This is not the first time Russia has made a malicious, unfounded accusation against our staff,” the spokesman said.
The quarter-century power intelligence scandal of Russian President Vladimir Putin has strained diplomatic relations between Russia and Britain.
In 2006, the UK accused Moscow of being behind the assassination of former Russian agents and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in the London addiction attack.
And in 2018, Britain and its allies, along with Soviet-era neurological agent Novichok, expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials who they said were attempted addiction spies to former double agent Sergei Skripal.
Russia denied involvement.
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