Russia expels British diplomats over "intelligence and subversive activities"

Second Secretary of the British Embassy in Russia, Alkesh Odedra, and the spouse of the First Secretary of the Political Section of the Embassy, Michael Skinner, have been stripped of their accreditation and are required to leave Russia within two weeks.

"It has been reliably established that the Second Secretary of the Embassy, Alkesh Odedra, and Michael Skinner — the spouse of the First Secretary of the Political Section of the Embassy, Tabassum Rashid — intentionally provided false information when applying for entry into our country, thereby violating Russian law," said the FSB's Center for Public Relations (CPR), Caliber.Az reports, citing Russian media.

The FSB also stated that "signs of intelligence and subversive activities threatening the security of the Russian Federation have been identified" in relation to these diplomats.

"Based on this ground, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in cooperation with relevant authorities, has decided to revoke the accreditations of Alkesh Odedra and Michael Skinner, and they are required to leave Russia within two weeks," the CPR added.

Commenting on the matter, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that a representative of the British Embassy in Moscow was summoned to the ministry on March 10 in connection with the deprivation of Skinner and Odedra's accreditation for signs of intelligence activities. In the video published by the Foreign Ministry, the representative of the diplomatic mission arrives at the Foreign Ministry building on Smolenskaya Square and leaves without comment.

By Khagan Isayev