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Russia’s main security service has warned citizens to avoid all contact with UK diplomats after expelling a second secretary at Britain’s embassy in Moscow on accusations of espionage.
The FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, claimed on Monday it had discovered that the UK official was an undeclared intelligence agent, who had “attempted to receive sensitive information during unofficial meetings with Russian experts on the economy”. It said it had ordered him to leave Russia within two weeks.
The UK Foreign Office said Russia’s accusations were “complete nonsense” and part of “an increasingly aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats”.
The FSB also recommended on Monday that Russians avoid any meetings with UK diplomats, including at the embassy, without prior authorisation from the foreign ministry “to avoid negative consequences, including criminal responsibility.”
Moscow’s warning is likely to further hamper the UK’s already severely restricted presence on the ground in Russia during President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year.
US, UK and European embassies in Russia operate at reduced staffing levels after several previous rounds of mutual expulsions.
After the war began, Russia introduced criminal penalties for “confidential co-operation with a foreign state”, which legal experts say potentially outlaws any contact with any foreigner.
Since August last year, Russian authorities have upgraded charges against at least 13 people under the statute to the more serious offence of state treason. Treason carries an average sentence of nearly 13 years, almost three times longer than the sentence for confidential co-operation with a foreign state, according to independent human rights group Memorial.
The sweeping penalties are part of a broader crackdown aimed at cutting Russia off from the outside world to an extent unseen since the height of the cold war. Russian authorities regularly block almost all mobile internet traffic in Moscow and other large cities and have banned or restricted most popular western social media apps.
Putin said in a speech to the FSB last month that he wanted them to “more actively expose and stop the activity of foreign intelligence officers and their recruited agents”, particularly those interested in obtaining secret “military and strategic” information.
The FSB claimed that the UK diplomat had entered Russia under false pretences and “carried out destructive intelligence activity threatening the security of Russia”.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office rejected the allegations, adding: “The UK does not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.”
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Danae Dholakia, the UK’s deputy ambassador, to express what it called a “decisive protest” over the incident on Monday.
The expulsion is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat measures taken by Russia and western countries during the invasion of Ukraine.
Russia previously expelled another UK diplomat in January, two diplomats in 2025 and seven the year before under similar accusations, which the FCDO also said were groundless.
In February the UK expelled a Russian diplomat in response to January accusations. Last week ministers announced that they were “ready” to intercept any ships in Russia’s so-called shadow fleet travelling through UK waters.