United News of Bangladesh

Russia on Thursday ordered a British diplomat to leave the country over alleged espionage, a charge the U.K. dismissed as “baseless.” The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) accused the embassy staff member of working for British intelligence but did not provide any evidence. The Russian Foreign Ministry announced that the diplomat’s accreditation had been revoked and that the individual must leave Russia within two weeks. Danae Dholakia, the U.K.’s chargé d’affaires in Russia, was summoned to the ministry in Moscow to receive the notice. “Moscow will not tolerate undeclared British intelligence activities on Russian soil,” the ministry said, adding that it would respond in kind to any retaliatory measures from London. Read more: Russia attacks Ukraine's power grid again in freezing cold The U.K. Foreign Office said it was “carefully considering” a response and condemned Russia’s expulsion as part of a pattern of “malicious and baseless” accusations against British diplomats. “Targeting British diplomats in this way undermines the basic conditions necessary for diplomatic missions to function,” the office said. Relations between Russia and NATO countries have deteriorated to Cold War-era lows, with multiple rounds of mutual diplomat expulsions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In March 2025, Moscow expelled two other British diplomats on spying allegations, which the U.K. also rejected as false.

Russian authorities on Tuesday ordered a British diplomat to leave the country on allegations of spying as tensions soar over the conflict in Ukraine. Russia's Federal Security Service, the top domestic security and counterintelligence agency, said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies that the diplomat, identified as Edward Pryor Wilkes, had provided false personal data while seeking permission to enter the country. The agency, known under its Russian acronym FSB, alleged that he has worked for British intelligence under diplomatic cover, replacing one of the six British diplomats who were expelled from Russia in August. The FSB alleged that Wilkes was involved in “intelligence and subversive activities that threatened the security of the Russian Federation.” Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that a decision has made to revoke Wilkes' accreditation and he has been ordered to leave the country within two weeks. She said that the ministry has summoned the British ambassador to hand over the notice. The U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had no immediate comment.Russia announced the expulsion of six British diplomats in September weeks after it happened. Moscow accused them of spying, allegations rejected by the U.K. as “completely baseless.” 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.Read: The week that upped the stakes of the Ukraine war  

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