Britain will expel Russia’s defense attaché, strip some properties of diplomatic status and limit the duration of Russian diplomatic visas, moves in response to what Interior Secretary James Cleverly said called this Wednesday the “malicious activity” of Moscow.
This announcement is part of others that occurred during the day across Europe with regard to the RussiaL’Estonia having summoned the highest Russian diplomat in the country over a matter of interference of GPS signals and the Poland having denounced a cyber attack from a group linked to Russia. Britain is already “an extremely delicate operational environment for Russian intelligence services”but the new measures decided by London will “strengthen our resilience in the face of the Russian threat”declared James Cleverly in Parliament.
“Appropriate response”
Since Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine in February 2022, denounced by Kyiv and the West as an invasion, Great Britain has taken several sets of sanctions against Russian companies and personalities. James Cleverly stressed this Wednesday that the support given to Kyiv by the conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would not weaken. “We will expel the Russian defense attaché, who is an undeclared military intelligence officer”he announced. “We will remove diplomatic building status from several properties linked to Russia (…) We are imposing new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas, including limiting the time that Russian diplomats can spend” in the country, detailed the minister.
In Moscow, the spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry declared that a “appropriate response” would be brought to decisions in London. Maria Zakharova also accused Germany of using baseless myths about Russian ‘hackers’ in order to fuel tensions, warning that Berlin’s decision to recall its ambassador to Russia on Monday for consultations would lead to a new deterioration of relations between the two countries.
