Britain is expelling a Russian diplomat and another one’s spouse in a tit-for-tat retaliation move.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy summoned the Russian ambassador to London Andrei Kelin for a dressing down by a top official.
The British government accused the Kremlin of seeking “to drive the British Embassy in Moscow towards closure”.
The stark response came after Moscow ordered a British diplomat and the spouse of another one to leave accusing them of spying.
A Foreign Office 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.”
He continued: “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.”
Russia accused a British diplomat and another one’s spouse on Monday of intelligence gathering and gave them two weeks to leave the country.
Moscow has been angered by Britain leading military and diplomatic support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's recent statements about putting British boots on the ground in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force.
Mr Kelin had alleged that the UK was a barrier to ending the conflict.
“At the moment the UK is at the head of those who are resisting a quick peace,” he said last week.
But health minister Stephen Kinnock flatly denied the claim.
“It’s absolutely vital that we remember this war could end tomorrow if Russia were to withdraw,” he stressed.
“Russia is the country that conducted an illegal and barbaric invasion of a sovereign territory and we now have to hold firm, we have to be resolute, we are unwavering in our support for President Zelensky.”
The tit-for-tat expulsions came as the UK and US were piling pressure on Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire backed by Ukraine after talks in Saudi Arabia between a delegation from Kyiv and Donald Trump’s senior figures.
Trump clashed spectacularly with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House’s Oval Office recently.
Sir Keir and French president Emmanuel Macron, though, have played key roles in bringing Ukraine and Trump’s administration back into discussions with a ceasefire plan now agreed.
Putin is said to have a “dilemma” over whether to accept it or pursue his war aims.
