UK working on escalating int'l military-political situation: FSB
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Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announces the termination of accreditation for six UK Embassy staff in Russia due to their alleged involvement in intelligence and subversive activities.
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The British Embassy building, center, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, second right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018 (AP)
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) announced obtaining documents that confirm the United Kingdom's coordination in escalating the global military-political situation.
According to the FSB, the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate of the UK Foreign Office is the primary body orchestrating subversive activities against Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation has received documentary materials confirming London's coordination of the escalation of the international military-political situation," the agency mentioned in a statement.
The documents reveal that the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate has been transformed into a special service tasked with inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia, a change that occurred following Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, the FSB pointed out.
In August, Sergei Lebedev, the coordinator of a local pro-Russian underground network, told Sputnik that planned attacks by Ukrainian forces on the Kursk and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants (NPPs) are being overseen by Western intelligence services, particularly from the UK.
Accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia terminated
In a related context, the FSB announced the termination of accreditation for six UK Embassy staff in Russia due to their alleged involvement in intelligence and subversive activities and in response to London’s numerous "unfriendly" steps.
The agency stated that evidence supports the view that these British diplomats, working under the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate, posed a threat to Russia’s national security.
The FSB also warned that "if similar actions are detected among employees of the British diplomatic mission, the FSB will demand early termination of their missions in the Russian Federation."
"We fully share the Russian Federal Security Service's assessment of the activities of the so-called British diplomats," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova told TASS.
"The UK embassy went far beyond the limits set by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. But the most important thing is that we are talking not only about the formal side of the issue and the non-compliance with the declared activities, but about such actions aimed at harming our people," she pointed out," Zakharova said.
The latest announcements add to the dispute between Russia and the UK over the ongoing war in Ukraine. They come in parallel with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Washington, where he will discuss with US President Joe Biden possibly allowing Ukrainian forces to strike Russia with long-range missiles.
Kiev is urging Washington and London to remove restrictions on the use of their manufactured weapons, a move that has prompted a stern warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who cautioned that granting Ukraine such permission would effectively mean NATO is "at war" with Moscow.
According to British media reports, Biden is reportedly willing to allow Ukraine to use British and French missiles incorporating US technology but remains opposed to permitting the deployment of US-made missiles directly.
