London and Moscow have expelled several of each other\u2019s diplomats on spying allegations in recent years
\n moscow
\nRussia said on Tuesday it was expelling a British diplomat who it accused of espionage and summoned London\u2019s ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow.
\nThe FSB security service said the diplomat appeared to have carried out \u201cintelligence and subversive work, threatening the security of the Russian Federation\u201d, state news agencies reported.
\nThe development came hours after Russia confirmed it had arrested a British man captured fighting for Ukraine, amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the state of the conflict, which began nearly three years ago.
\nThe FSB said the diplomat had \u201cdeliberately provided false data when obtaining permission to enter our country, thus violating Russian law\u201d.
\nFootage broadcast by state media showed Britain\u2019s ambassador arriving at the foreign ministry in central Moscow after being summoned for talks, minutes after the expulsion was announced.
\nLondon and Moscow have expelled several of each other\u2019s diplomats on spying allegations in recent years.
\nThe FSB said the man expelled on Tuesday was a replacement for one of six British officials that Russia had expelled earlier this year, also on spying accusations.
\nRelations between the two capitals have been repeatedly strained by alleged spy scandals.
\nThe current wave began with the 2006 assassination of former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in a London poisoning attack.
\nThen in 2018, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials they accused of being spies over the attempted poisoning of former double agent, Sergei Skripal, who was living in exile in Britain.
\nSkripal survived the attempted Novichok attack but a British civilian died after touching a contaminated perfume bottle, triggering uproar in London.
\nBritish fighter arrested
\nAlso on Tuesday, a court in Russia\u2019s western Kursk region confirmed a British citizen accused of fighting for Ukraine had been captured and arrested.
\nJames Scott Rhys Anderson, 22, was ordered remanded in custody on allegations he had \u201cparticipated in armed hostilities on the territory of the Kursk region\u201d.
\nIt was the first official confirmation from Russia of Anderson\u2019s arrest, following a video that was published on pro-Kremlin Telegram channels over the weekend.
\nThe video showed a man, who appeared to have his hands tied, identify himself as James Anderson.
\nIn the footage, which could not be verified, the man said he joined the Ukrainian army after being dismissed from the British army in 2023.
\nUK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday that London had been \u201cupdated about that development\u201d and would \u201coffer this UK national all the support we can\u201d.
\nWithout specifying exactly what Anderson had been charged with or how long he had been ordered to remain in custody, the Leninsky court in Kursk said he was suspected of \u201ccommitting a set of particularly serious offences that post a danger to society\u201d.
\nRussia considers foreigners travelling to fight in Ukraine as \u201cmercenaries\u201d, enabling prosecution under its criminal code rather than treating them as prisoners of war under the Geneva Convention.
\nIn 2022, a court in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine sentenced two British fighters to death for fighting for Ukraine, although they were later released in a prisoner and POW exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
London and Moscow have expelled several of each other\u2019s diplomats on spying allegations in recent years moscow Russia said on Tuesday it was expelling a British diplomat who it accused of espionage and summoned London\u2019s ambassador to the foreign ministry in Moscow. The FSB security service said the diplomat appeared to have carried out \u201cintelligence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-445962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n