Russia throws out British diplomat for alleged spying

By Guy Faulconbridge and Mark Trevelyan

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia said on Tuesday it was expelling a British diplomat for spying - an accusation denied by London - in the latest blow to the already dire state of relations between the two countries.

The diplomat, whose photo was splashed across TV news bulletins, was named by the FSB security service as Edward Wilkes. It said, without giving details, that he had intentionally provided false information when he entered Russia.

"During counterintelligence work, the Russian Federal Security Service has discovered an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy in Moscow," the FSB said in a statement.

"At the same time, the Russian FSB has discovered signs of the said diplomat conducting intelligence and subversive work that threatens the security of the Russian Federation."

A spokesperson for Britain's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: "This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff. We will respond in due course."

The Russian Foreign Ministry said it summoned British ambassador Nigel Casey to receive a "strong protest".

It said he was told that Moscow would take an "uncompromising line" towards any undeclared British spy activity. "In addition, if London escalates the situation, the Russian side will immediately give a 'mirror' response."

Moscow also said it was adding 30 more British names - including leading members of Prime Minister Keir Starmer's cabinet - to a "stop list" of people who are banned from entering Russia. The move is symbolic, as no British minister has visited Russia since before President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

DIRE RELATIONS

The FSB said the expelled British diplomat had been a replacement for one of six British diplomats ordered out earlier this year, also on espionage charges.

Reacting to those expulsions in September, Britain rejected the spying allegations and said Russia's behaviour was completely unacceptable.

Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war. Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine.

Russia said Ukraine fired British Storm Shadow cruise missiles at its territory last week for the first time. Putin cited that, and the launching of U.S. ATACMS ballistic missiles by Ukraine, as the reason Russia fired a new hypersonic missile at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Nov. 21.

Russia casts Britain and the United States as perfidious powers that are supporting Ukraine as part of efforts to cleave Russia apart and grab its vast natural resources - assertions Washington and London dismiss as absurd.

In October, Russia issued a scornful denial when the head of Britain's MI5 security service said Russian military intelligence was bent on causing "mayhem" in Britain and Europe via arson, sabotage and other means.

Diplomatic postings to Moscow are now considered among the most difficult in the world by Western countries. The U.S. State Department ranks Moscow alongside Freetown, Mogadishu, Damascus and Kabul in hardship terms.

Western diplomats in Moscow say intrusive surveillance and harassment are frequent and a guide known as "Moscow Rules" that was developed by Western spies in Soviet times to guard against complacency has been updated for modern Russia.

Russia has long complained that its own diplomats are routinely harassed in major Western capitals, particularly in the United States.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Mark Trevelyan in London; additional reporting by Andrew MacAskill in LondonEditing by Gareth Jones)