Moscow's FSB domestic spy agency said yesterday it had acted after seeing documents showing that part of the Foreign Office was helping coordinate what it called "the escalation of the political and military situation" in Ukraine.
The Foreign Office said, however, that the move had been made last month as part of a continuing diplomatic tit-for-tat. Sources indicated the British diplomats had left Russia weeks ago and were now being replaced.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The accusations made today by the FSB against our staff are completely baseless... We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests." In May, the British government expelled the Russian defence attache, accusing him of being an undeclared intelligence officer, and removed diplomatic status from several Russian-owned buildings in the UK.
Moscow's statement came as the British prime minister was preparing for talks with Biden over allowing Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia in a foreign policy summit at the White House.
The outgoing president and the newly elected prime minister were last night set to meet to discuss what Starmer described on Thursday as the "strategic context" in Ukraine, the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific.
No press conference was scheduled and the UK side has been dampening down expectations of a public announcement about Storm Shadow, a missile with a range of at least 190 miles, that could be used to strike air bases, missile launch sites and other military targets in Russia.
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