{"id":125053,"date":"2026-04-30T10:58:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=125053"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:58:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T05:58:28","slug":"in-tit-for-tat-move-britain-expels-russian-diplomat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/125053\/","title":{"rendered":"In tit-for-tat move, Britain expels Russian diplomat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>LONDON(National Times)-  Britain said on Wednesday it was expelling a Russian diplomat after Moscow kicked out a UK envoy last month, in the latest tit-for-tat response over espionage claims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe strongly condemn Russia\u2019s unjustified decision last month to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1986983\">expel<\/a>&nbsp;another British diplomat and the malicious public smear campaign that followed,\u201d a British government spokesperson said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis behaviour is wholly unacceptable, and we will not tolerate harassment or intimidation of our diplomatic staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe have therefore summoned the Russian ambassador to announce we are taking reciprocal action, revoking the accreditation of a Russian diplomat.\u201d The UK government did not say when exactly Andrei Kelin, Russia\u2019s top envoy in Britain since 2019, was summoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moscow and London have each expelled multiple embassy staff over the last decade, trading accusations of espionage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expulsions from one side have typically been followed by a tit-for-tat response from the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Russia last kicked out a British diplomat on March 30, over allegations he was working as a spy \u2014 charges swiftly rejected by London as \u201ccomplete nonsense\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Previous tit-for-tat actions occurred in February and January, as relations between the two countries remain at a historic low point over the Ukraine war and longstanding spying allegations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wednesday\u2019s statement, issued by the Foreign Office, accused Moscow of \u201crepeated unprovoked and unjustified\u201d actions which it said were \u201cdesigned to disrupt our diplomatic work\u201d. They \u201cform part of a wider campaign of aggressive behaviour towards the UK\u201d, it added, noting any further action by Russia will be treated as an escalation and met with a firm response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LONDON(National Times)- Britain said on Wednesday it was expelling a Russian diplomat after Moscow kicked out a UK envoy last month, in the latest tit-for-tat response over espionage claims. \u201cWe strongly condemn Russia\u2019s unjustified decision last month to&nbsp;expel&nbsp;another British diplomat and the malicious public smear campaign that followed,\u201d a British government spokesperson said in a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":125054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - 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