The United Kingdom has revoked a Russian diplomat’s accreditation, the latest escalation in a tit-for-tat diplomatic feud that began last year when Moscow expelled a British official.
Andrey Kelin, Moscow’s ambassador to the UK since 2019, was summoned to the Foreign Office to be briefed about the change.
The government stated that the measure was done in “response to Russia’s unprovoked and baseless decision to strip the accreditation of a British diplomat” in November.
“The UK will not stand for intimidation of our staff in this way, and so we are taking reciprocal action,” it said.
The Foreign Office added that “any further action taken by Russia will be considered an escalation and responded to accordingly”.
The Kremlin has yet to comment publicly on the expulsion.
Moscow cancelled the accreditation of a British diplomat it believed was a spy in November, forcing him to leave the country within two weeks.
Russian state-run news outlets said that the FSB, the country’s security service, accused the diplomat of submitting false information on his documents and engaging in espionage.
At the time, the Foreign Office dismissed Russia’s accusations as unfounded and said it was considering a retaliatory response.
Russia has previous said it planned to take further action should the UK respond to its own expulsion.
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Russia have worsened since the latter’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
In September last year, Russia announced that the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow had been revoked, requiring them to leave the country.
