Russia expels British diplomat over spying allegations

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Monday expelled a British diplomat over accusations of spying that were rejected as “complete nonsense” by the U.K., a second such move this year that comes as tensions spiral between Moscow and the West.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the country’s top domestic security and counterintelligence agency, said in a statement that the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten ⁠the security of the Russian Federation.”

The FSB charged that the diplomat had sought to gather “sensitive information” about the Russian economy in “unofficial meetings” with Russian experts, without providing further details. It said he was ordered to leave Russia within two weeks.

A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement that “the accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense.”

“Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats, pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work,” the spokesperson said. “The UK does not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.”

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The move marks the second expulsion of a British diplomat by Russia this year, following another such move in January that the U.K. also dismissed as “baseless.” The British government responded in February by revoking the accreditation of a Russian diplomat.

In March 2025, Moscow expelled two British diplomats based in Moscow over spying allegations that the U.K. also dismissed as false.

Russia and NATO allies have carried out multiple rounds of mutual expulsions of diplomats as relations have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War after the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.