Relations between Moscow and London have been strained by intelligence scandals throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century in power. In 2018, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials they said were spies over the attempted poisoning of former double agent, Sergei Skripal, with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok
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 "In a tit for tat, Russia expels 2 British diplomats on charges of spying")
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual televised year-end press conference and phone-in held in Moscow, Russia December 19, 2024. Reuters File
Russia said Monday it was expelling two British “diplomats” on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities, in a move slammed by London as “malicious and baseless”.
Russia’s FSB security service said “counterintelligence work had revealed an undeclared British intelligence presence under the cover of the national embassy”.
It said it was expelling the embassy’s second secretary, whom it named as Alkesh Odedra, and the husband of the first secretary of the embassy’s political department, identified as Michael Skinner.
Both had “deliberately provided false information when obtaining a permit to enter our country, thus violating Russian legislation”, the FSB said.
The Russian foreign ministry has revoked their accreditations and ordered them to leave Russia within two weeks, the FSB said.
The UK blasted the move as unfounded.
“This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff,” a UK foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Russia’s foreign ministry also summoned an embassy representative in connection with the allegations, it said in a post on Telegram.
Relations between Moscow and London have been strained by intelligence scandals throughout Russian President Vladimir Putin’s quarter-century in power.
The UK accused Moscow of being behind the 2006 assassination of former Russian agent and Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in a London poisoning attack.
In 2018, Britain and its allies expelled dozens of Russian embassy officials they said were spies over the attempted poisoning of former double agent, Sergei Skripal, with Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok.
Last Friday, a jury at a British court convicted three Bulgarians for their part in a sophisticated UK-based spy ring that targeted journalists and passed sensitive information to Russia over three years.
Monday’s announcement came as Russia shifts blame for the Ukraine conflict away from the United States to Europe, as US President Donald Trump’s administration seeks closer ties with the Kremlin.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)
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