A British diplomat has been ordered to leave Russia after being accused of spying by Moscow. The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said the second secretary at the UK’s Moscow embassy had been ordered to leave within two weeks after counterintelligence officers revealed the “undeclared intelligence presence”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) described the claims as “malicious” and “baseless”. The FSB alleged the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation”, Russian media reported. Specifically, the diplomat had tried to obtain sensitive information about the Russian economy during informal meetings and had “provided false information about himself”.
In January this year, President Vladimir Putin’s foreign ministry said it would not “tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia” after a different UK diplomat was expelled. The latest expulsion comes days after Sir Keir Starmer announced British commandos will be able to board and halt Russia’s shadow fleet vessels as they pass through UK waters.
The prime minister said the UK would join northern European allies in intercepting the tankers, in an attempt to “go after” the sanction-breaking ships “even harder”. Moscow’s shadow fleet is reported to be made up of more than a thousand ageing tankers that illicitly ship oil and other goods out of Russia by flying the flags of other countries, evading Western sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine began.
On Thursday afternoon, a crude oil tanker flying under the Russian flag, the Liteyny Prospect, was located off the Sussex coast. The vessel is on the UK sanctions list. A government spokesperson said: “We will not comment on specific operational planning or give a running commentary as this could compromise our ability to successfully take action against these ships.”
