Moscow (TDI): Russia said Monday it was expelling two British “diplomats” on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities.
Announcing the expulsion of the embassy’s second secretary and husband of the first secretary, Russia’s FSB security service said “counterintelligence work had revealed an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy.”
It said the two “deliberately provided false information when obtaining a permit to enter Russia, thus violating the country’s law.”
The FSB said that Russian foreign ministry has revoked their accreditations and ordered them to leave Russia within two weeks.
The ministry also summoned a representative of the embassy in connection with the allegations, it said in a post on Telegram.
Relations between Russia and UK have been strained by intelligence scandals throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century in power.
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The UK accused Russia of being behind the 2006 killing of former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in a London poisoning attack.
In 2018, UK and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials they said were spying over the attempted poisoning of former double agent, Sergei Skripal, with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
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Monday’s announcement came as Moscow shifts blame for the Ukraine conflict away from the US to Europe, as President Donald Trump’s administration seeks closer relations with Russia.
