Russia has expelled a British diplomat – thought to be Wilkes Edward Pryor – amid accusations of spying, according to reports coming out of the country
Vladimir Putin has expelled a British diplomat for “spying” amid claims of “intelligence activites”, according to Russian state media.
“An employee of the British Embassy in Moscow has been stripped of his accreditation for providing false information when entering the Russian Federation,” the TASS state news agency said, citing the FSB security service. “His work revealed signs of intelligence activities.” Interfax also reports that the as yet unnamed diplomat has been expelled on grounds of “espionage”.
According to state media, Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Nigel Casey, who has served as the UK’s ambassador in Moscow since last year, had been summoned by the Kremlin.
“It has been reliably established that Wilkes Edward Pryor, the second secretary of the political section at the UK Embassy in Moscow, was sent to Moscow by the UK Foreign Office’s Directorate for Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He replaced one of six British intelligence officers expelled from Russia in August this year. When applying for entry into Russia, he deliberately provided false information, thereby violating Russian law,” the FSB Public Relations Centre reported on Tuesday.
The Russians said that the diplomat came to Moscow after six were expelled in August. “A decision was taken to withdraw his accreditation and he was ordered to leave Russia within two weeks,” said the FSB.
“Signs of intelligence and subversive work threatening the security of the Russian Federation have been revealed,” a statement added, while providing no details of the accusation.
Russia has refused to renew the accreditation of many UK diplomats in Moscow amid icy relations over Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, and British assistance to Kyiv.
There was no immediate comment from Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It comes as tensions between the UK and Russia remains high after Britain sanctioned 30 ships in Russia’s so-called shadow fleet that have been skirting restrictions to transport billions of dollars of petroleum, the Foreign Office said on Monday.
It is the biggest sanctions package targeting the fleet of illegitimate and often decrepit ships that are operating illegally to avoid sanctions, the Foreign Office said. The U.K. has now sanctioned 73 tankers, the most of any nation, in efforts to cripple a major funding source for Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
“Russia’s oil revenues are fueling the fires of war and destruction in Ukraine,” Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in Italy at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers. “We are determined to ensure that both the ships and the enablers of those ships thwarting European and U.K. sanctions are hurt at this time.”
