Britain on Thursday said it would revoke the accreditation of a Russian diplomat, in retaliation to a similar move made by Moscow last year.
Russia had in November said that it was expelling a British diplomat for spying, though London denied the accusation.
In a statement on Thursday, Britain’s Foreign Office said that it had summoned the Russian ambassador to announce its decision, saying it was in response to Russia’s unprovoked and baseless decision to strip the accreditation of a British diplomat in Moscow in November.
“Any further action taken by Russia will be considered an escalation and responded to accordingly,” the statement added.
According to the statement, which did not name the British diplomat or the Russian official whose accreditation is due to be revoked, Britain will not stand for intimidation of our staff in this way, calling its decision a reciprocal action.
The Russian embassy in London has not yet commented on the development.
Media Talk Africa gathered that Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war.
Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine.
