Key points
- Embassy’s second secretary and husband of first secretary’s expulsion announced
- British embassy rep summoned
- In November 2024 too, Russia ordered a British diplomat to leave country
ISLAMABAD: Russia on Monday said it was expelling two British “diplomats” on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities, the FSB security service said, according to AFP.
Announcing the expulsion of the embassy’s second secretary and the husband of the first secretary, the FSB said “counterintelligence work had revealed an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy.”
The foreign ministry also summoned an embassy representative, it said in a post on Telegram.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia’s post on X: A representative of @ukinrussia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with two of the Embassy staff being ordered to leave Russia in 2 weeks time for ‘intelligence and subversive activities’.
📺 A representative of @ukinrussia was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry in connection with two of the Embassy staff being ordered to leave Russia in 2 weeks time for ‘intelligence and subversive activities’. pic.twitter.com/JNt0mCFpKA
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) March 10, 2025
Diplomat ordered to leave
In November 2024, Aljazeera reported Russia ordered a British diplomat to leave the country for allegedly spying – a claim rejected by the UK government, which promised a response amid souring relations between the two countries.
According to Aljazeera, Russia’s FSB security service said on Tuesday that the diplomat, whose photo was splashed across TV news bulletins, had intentionally provided false information when he entered the country. “During counterintelligence work, the Russian Federal Security Service has discovered an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy in Moscow,” it said. “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,” it said in a statement.
Second secretary
Aljazeera reported last year, that the statement named him as Edward Wilkes and said he was a second secretary, a relatively junior diplomatic rank. A spokesperson for the UK’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.”
