Russia has expelled a British official after accusing him of espionage, according to reports.
The TASS news agency quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying that the ministry had also summoned the British ambassador.
Pictures show the British ambassador’s car arriving at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.
The UK Foreign Office has been contacted for comment.
State news agencies reported that the FSB had accused the politician – whose photo was shown on television – of providing false information about his documents and carrying out espionage and sabotage activities.
It added that the ambassador replaced the one of six UK lawyers sacked in Augustand espionage charges.
It comes amid worsening relations between the UK and Russia since the all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last week it emerged that the UK had lifted restrictions on Ukraine using British-supplied Storm Shadow missiles against targets inside Russia for the first time.
President Vladimir Putin cited the move, aside the launch of long-range missiles provided by the US into Russian territorysuch as after Russia’s decision to launch a new hypersonic missile in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday.
The expulsion of embassies since the start of the war.
At the beginning of this year, British officer Capt Adrian Coghill was given a week to leave Russiadays after a Russian defense official was expelled from London over alleged espionage as an “undeclared intelligence officer”.
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