Russia expels six British diplomats it accuses of spying and sabotage activity

Russia's FSB security service said on Friday it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow whose actions it said showed signs of spying and sabotage work.

Britain's embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The FSB, the main successor agency to the Soviet KGB, said it had documents showing that a British foreign office department in London responsible for Eastern Europe and Central Asia was coordinating what it called "the escalation of the political and military situation" and was tasked with ensuring Russia's strategic defeat in its war against Ukraine.

"Thus, the facts revealed give grounds to consider the activities of British diplomats sent to Moscow by the directorate as threatening the security of the Russian Federation," the FSB said in a statement.

"In this connection, on the basis of documents provided by the Federal Security Service of Russia and as a response to the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, in co-operation with the agencies concerned, has terminated the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British Embassy in Moscow in whose actions signs of spying and sabotage were found," it said.

The six diplomats were named on Russian state TV, which also showed photographs of them.

"The English did not take our hints about the need to stop this practice (of carrying out intelligence activities inside Russia),so we decided to expel these six to begin with," an FSB employee told the Rossiya-24 state TV channel.

The FSB said Russia would ask other British diplomats to go home early if they were found to be engaged in similar activity.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was cited by the state TASS news agency as saying the activities of the British embassy in Moscow had gone well beyond diplomatic convention and accusing it of carrying out deliberate activity designed to harm the Russian people.