UK Foreign Office vows to respond to expulsion of its diplomat from Russian Federation

The UK has threatened Russia with a response to the expulsion of a diplomat from Moscow. This was stated by a representative of the Foreign Ministry of the country on November 26, writes Sky News.

"This is not the first time when <Russia> makes malicious and unfounded accusations against our staff," the TV channel reports the statement.

According to the publication, the ministry promised to respond in an "appropriate" manner, but it was not specified what actions would be taken.

Earlier in the day, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said that Wilkes Edward Pryor, an employee of the British Embassy, was conducting intelligence and subversive work that threatened the country's security. The British diplomat has been stripped of his accreditation and will be expelled from Russia to his home country.

British Ambassador to the Russian capital Nigel Casey, who was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on November 26, was strongly protested in connection with the information that Pryor had knowingly provided false information about himself when obtaining an entry permit.

Casey spent more than an hour in the building of the Russian Foreign Ministry and refused to comment to journalists.

Earlier, on September 13, the FSB press service said that the subversive activities of six spy diplomats at the British embassy in Moscow had been uncovered and their accreditation terminated because of the threat to Russian security. The spies were expelled, footage later emerged showing them preparing to leave Russia at the airport.

It was specified that the diplomats were preparing provocations in the country under special instructions. Britain's Foreign Office refused to apologize. The Russian Foreign Ministry said it shared the FSB's position and called on London to abandon its hostile policy on the Russian direction. As retired Russian FSB Major General Alexander Mikhailov noted, the expulsion of six British diplomats from Russia for preparing provocations is a failure that characterizes the entire intelligence service of the United Kingdom.