The UK has expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in response to an “increasingly aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment” against British officials in Moscow. The move is a tit-for-tat retaliation to a similar move by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government earlier this week.
The Foreign Office said it had summoned Russian ambassador Andrei Kelin to make clear “the UK will not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families”.Though no details were given, Britain is not Russia’s only target.
Iceland was forced to temporarily shut its embassy 18 months ago after a systematic and prolongs campaign of harassment carried out by Russian intelligence officers against individual Icelandic diplomats.
Measures included breaking into diplomats’ homes so they returned to find their windows open in the middle of winter, or cigarette burns in prominent locations.
On another occasion a female Icelandic diplomat whom Russia authorities knew to be vegetarian opened her fridge to find a steak on the shelf.
“The point was to let the diplomats know that Russia had access to their apartments and could come and go whenever they pleased,” said international relations expert Prof David Dunn of Birmingham University.
“Another typical act is to deliberately stop a school bus carrying the children of diplomats for a spurious two-hour vehicle check.
“This is all in violation of the Vienna Convention of Diplomatic Relations.”
He said Russia wanted to force foreign embassies to close there doors without overtly giving the orders to shut them down.
“Russia is a rogue state, and it is acting like a rogue state in breach of every norm and convention.
“Because Vladimir Putin has got away with doing these things unchallenged for so many years, he has become bolder – we’ve seen Russia cut of underwater cables, send incendiary devices through the post and even burning down a warehouse in England.”
A Foreign Office spokesman claimed the Russian state was “actively seeking to drive the British embassy in Moscow towards closure” with its actions.
But while the Foreign Office is likely to have chosen an Russian intelligence officer to expel, it will resist shutting down the doors of its embassy in Moscow, preferring to keep a line of communication open.
An FCDO spokesman said: “During the past twelve months, Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats, pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work.
“Russia’s expulsion this week of a British diplomat and diplomatic spouse is yet another escalation.
“The accusations made against these individuals are entirely false, fabricated in order to justify their increasing harassment of UK diplomats.
“It is clear that the Russian state is actively seeking to drive the British Embassy in Moscow towards closure and has no regard for the dangerous escalatory impact of this.
“Summoning the Russian ambassador today, a senior Foreign Office official made clear that the UK will not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.
“Consequently, we are taking immediate reciprocal action, revoking accreditation for a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse.”