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| Russia Expels Six British Diplomats for Alleged Spying |
MOSCOW: Russia's security service said on Friday it had stripped six British diplomats in Moscow of their accreditation and was accusing them of spying and sabotage, a rare rebuke by Washington's No. 1 main ally for playing a crucial role in helping Ukraine. SaveChanges in diplomacy are even more significant. See ↑ more information at...
The UK called the allegations of spying 'groundless.' It said it was a retaliatory action for the expulsion of the Russian defense attache in May and scrapping some Russian properties' diplomatic status.
The expulsions, which Russia's government announced hours before British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden held talks in Washington, were key to securing permission for Kyiv-approved blanket use of long-range missiles for targets inside Russia.
If they allow something like that [Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with missile systems delivered by the West], then, of course, it will be considered immediate and direct involvement in the armed conflict against our country; we cannot react to it as such, President Vladimir Putin.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Putin conveyed a clear and straightforward message to the West that is certain to have come across.
Iran Gives Ballistic Missiles to Russia for Ukraine Use, Washington and London Call It Step Change. Russia and Iran deny making such deliveries.
Russia's FSB state security service, the primary successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said it had evidence that a foreign office department in London overseeing policy towards Russia and Eastern Europe was focused on trying to "escalate political and military tension" using sanctions and encouraged global conflicts, in a coordinated operation to ensure industrialized defeat for Russia's campaign against Ukraine.
"According to the FSB, the revealed facts of the activities by British diplomats on Russian territory testify to a purposeful intention to interfere and threaten the security of Russia," said their statement.
"Based on materials that were transferred to us by the Federal Security Service of Russia and taking into account multiple unfriendly actions against Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry, together with relevant government bodies in the framework of national legislation [and] in response to this sort of hostile gesture by London, decides to cancel credentials from six employees of the political department at UK Embassy in Moscow," it said.
A British government spokesman said the allegations against its diplomats were false. "The Russian authorities have recalled the accreditation of six U.K. diplomats working at the British Embassy in Moscow.
Long-range missiles This was ramped up hours before Starmer landed in Washington, after Russia expelled British diplomats, meaning the discussion to gain clearance from Biden for Kyiv to deploy Britain's Storm Shadow missiles — which have a range of over 250km — on Russian soil.
According to the sources, the talks are a part of further consultations on expanding the range of Western long-range missiles Ukraine would be allowed to use against targets in Russia.