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Britain to Expel Russian Defense Attaché and Close Some Diplomatic Sites

The British home secretary, James Cleverly, accused Russia’s domestic intelligence agency of a pattern of “malign activity” in Britain and Europe.

By Mark Landler

Reporting from London

Britain’s diplomatic feud with Russia escalated on Wednesday after the British government announced it would expel a senior Russian diplomat who officials claim is an “undeclared” military intelligence officer, and also shut down several Russian diplomatic facilities in the country.

The government accused Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., of a pattern of “malign activity” in Britain and Europe, including hacking and leaking trade documents relating to the United States, and targeting of British lawmakers through malicious email campaigns.

James Cleverly, the British home secretary, told Parliament that the government was announcing the retaliatory measures “to make clear to Russia that we will not tolerate such apparent escalations.”

Britain’s action came two days after the Russian Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador to Moscow to lodge a “strong protest” over remarks the British foreign secretary, David Cameron, had made about Ukraine’s using weapons supplied by Britain to strike Russian territory.

The British Foreign Office disputed that the envoy, Nigel Casey, had been summoned, characterizing it instead as a “diplomatic meeting” in which, it said, he had “reiterated the United Kingdom’s support for Ukraine in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression.”

Whatever the diplomatic nuances, it is clear Britain’s relations with Russia — already among the most brittle of any between Moscow and a NATO member — are tumbling into an even deeper freeze. Russia’s Foreign Ministry vowed a “tough and measured” response, according to a statement.

“We consider extremely irresponsible and categorically unacceptable the claims of the British about the alleged involvement of our country in certain malicious actions,” said Maria V. Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the ministry.

Mr. Cleverly said Britain would expel the diplomat, a defense attaché whom he did not identify, and put new restrictions on visas for Russian diplomats, limiting the amount of time they can spend in Britain. He said Russia had tried to destabilize a British research group that focused on combating disinformation.

Britain will also strip the diplomatic status of Russian-owned properties, including Seacox Heath , a house in East Sussex that the Russian embassy has used as a weekend retreat for its staff, and a trade and defense office in Highgate, in London. Mr. Cleverly said these facilities “have been used for intelligence purposes.”

In addition to its operations in Britain, Mr. Cleverly accused Russia of plotting to sabotage German military aid for Ukraine and of carrying out espionage in Italy and Bulgaria. Among its activities, he said, were cyber and disinformation campaigns and the jamming of signals to disrupt civil aviation.

In a statement, Mr. Cameron, the foreign secretary, said, “Since the illegal invasion of Ukraine, Russia’s attempts to undermine U.K. and European security have become increasingly brazen.”

“These measures are an unequivocal message to the Russian state — their actions will not go unanswered,” he said.

It was the second time this week that Britain accused a hostile foreign actor of cyberattacks. In the first announcement on Tuesday — involving a large-scale breach of the payroll data of British military personnel — it did not name the country behind the attack. Lawmakers pointed the finger at China.

Asked whether Chinese hackers were responsible, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain said China was “acting in a way that is more authoritarian at home, assertive abroad.” Britain, he added, was confronting “an axis of authoritarian states, including Russia, Iran, North Korea and China.”

Britain’s tensions with Russia date back decades. But they deepened in 2018, after a former Russian intelligence agent and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent in Salisbury, England. Britain blamed Russia’s military intelligence and expelled 23 diplomats it branded as undeclared intelligence officers.

In 2020, a British parliamentary committee concluded that Russia had mounted a prolonged campaign to undermine Britain’s democracy — using tactics from disinformation, meddling in elections, funneling dirty money and employing members of the House of Lords. Russia dismissed the conclusions as “Russophobia.”

Britain was one of the first NATO countries to supply weapons to Ukraine, as it faced a threat from Russian troops in early 2022. A succession of British leaders, including Mr. Sunak and one of his predecessors, Boris Johnson — have staked out positions as stalwart defenders of Ukraine against Russia.

Mr. Cameron, who also served as prime minister, lobbied Republicans in Washington to extend American military aid to Ukraine, even paying a visit to former President Donald J. Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

Mr. Cameron provoked a furious reaction in Moscow when he suggested during a recent visit to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, that Ukraine “absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia,” including with British weapons. The United States and other suppliers of arms have generally discouraged strikes on Russian territory because of fears that it could draw the West further into the war.

In its statement after calling in the British ambassador, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Mr. Cameron was “de facto recognizing his country as a party to the conflict.”

“The ambassador was called upon to think about the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps from London,” the ministry said.

Britain’s suspicion of Russia extends even to the British royal family. Researchers in Britain reported that a Kremlin-linked disinformation network had spread spurious reports on social media about the health problems of Catherine, Princess of Wales, with a goal of inflaming divisions and eroding trust in institutions.

Catherine disclosed in March that she had been diagnosed with cancer, which quieted those rumors. But with Britain only months away from an anticipated general election, researchers and government officials are on guard for evidence of further Russian efforts to destabilize the country.

Anton Troianovski contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article referred imprecisely to the agency Britain accused. It is the Federal Security Service, or F.S.B., which is Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, not its foreign intelligence service. The error was repeated in a capsule summary and a picture caption.

How we handle corrections

Mark Landler is the London bureau chief of The Times, covering the United Kingdom, as well as American foreign policy in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades. More about Mark Landler

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Russia-Ukraine war: Belarus to hold tactical nuclear drills; Kyiv detains two Ukrainian officials over plot to kill Zelenskiy – as it happened

Ally to take part in exercises alongside Russia; Ukraine says it has exposed network of agents run by Moscow

• 5d ago Closing summary
• 5d ago Belarus holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, Tass reports
• 5d ago Kyiv detains two Ukrainian security officials over plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy
• 5d ago Ukraine says it has foiled Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskiy
• 5d ago Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of using chemical weapons on battlefield
• 5d ago Putin: Russia open to developing relations with West on equal terms
• 5d ago Vladimir Putin arrives at inauguration ceremony
• 5d ago EU plans to sanction Ukrainian media oligarch accused of treason by Kyiv

Belarus holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia, Tass reports

Reuters is reporting that Belarus will be holding tactical nuclear drills together with Russia , according to the state news agency TASS.

Belarus has begun checks on the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, simultaneously with a drill being carried out by Russia.

Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the United States.

Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said in April that "several dozen" Russian tactical nuclear weapons had been deployed in Belarus under an agreement announced last year by himself and President Vladimir Putin .

Closing summary

This blog is closing for the day. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:

Ukraine announced it had detained two Ukrainian security officials who they claim were involved in a plot coordinated by Russia to assassinate senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Security Service of Ukraine said in a statement that it had exposed a network of agents run by Russia’s Federal Security Service whose aim was to assassinate Zelenskiy and other senior Ukrainian political and military officials.

Belarus has begun checks on the readiness of its army to deploy tactical nuclear weapons, simultaneously with a drill being carried out by Russia. Russia said on Monday it would practise the deployment of tactical nuclear weapons as part of a military exercise after what Moscow said were threats from France, Britain and the US.

During his inauguration, where he sworn in for another term as Russian President, Vladimir Putin did not rule out dialogue with the West but said it needed to be on equal terms. In a short speech, Putin also said that Russia was open to developing relations with other countries he described as “the world’s majority”.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other at the global chemical weapons watchdog in The Hague of using banned toxins on the battlefield, the organisation said on Tuesday. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) said that the accusations were “insufficiently substantiated” but added that “the situation remains volatile and extremely concerning regarding the possible re-emergence of use of toxic chemicals as weapons.”

The EU plans to sanction Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian politician and businessman accused of high treason by Kyiv, who was released to Russia in a prisoner exchange in 2022. In addition, the bloc is seeking to ban four more Russian media outlets from the airwaves and internet in its latest round of measures against Russia.

Reuters reports that Britain, the US and Australia have sanctioned a senior Russian leader of the cybercrime gang LockBit, the British government said on Tuesday.

Dmitry Khoroshev will face asset freezes and travel bans after being identified as one of the leaders of LockBit, the ransomware group which has extorted over $1bn from victims globally, Britain said.

“In sanctioning one of the leaders of LockBit we are taking direct action against those who continue to threaten global security, while simultaneously exposing the malicious cybercriminal activity emanating from Russia,” the British minister for the Indo-Pacific, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said in a statement.

Here are some clips from Vladimir Putin’s inauguration ceremony earlier on Tuesday.

In a speech made after he swore an oath on the constitution, Putin called on the west to approach dialogue with Russia as “an equal”. He said: ‘The dialogue, including on issues of security and strategic stability, is possible, but not from a position of force’.

“Together with our partners in Eurasian integration, with other sovereign centres of development, we will continue to work on forming a multipolar world order, an equal and indivisible security system.”

Reuters reports that Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said that in order for Europe to avoid conflicts and be safe it must increase its defence capabilities, and he repeated his call for the construction of a common European air defence system.

In the face of the conflict in Ukraine , Poland is strengthening its defence capabilities, allocating over 4% of its Gross Domestic Product.

Speaking at the European Economic Congress, a meeting of politicians and business figures in Katowice, Tusk said EU countries should take joint action to increase spending on defence by at least 100 billion euros ($107 billion).

"Europe must be prepared in the next dozen or so months and the entire next five years for a situation in which no power in the world will dare raise a hand against it," he said.

"Big money will move the war away from Europe's borders for a long time, perhaps permanently."

A joint air defence "must become a European project that will be a financial effort to build a dome over Europe," he said. "We have many more initiatives and meetings than real actions to defend the European sky."

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who attended the congress, also said Europe must spend more on defence, and declared that if she remains in office for another term she will propose new defence projects.

She promoted a previously announced proposal for the creation of a full-time EU defence commissioner, who would help support the European defence industry.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday that Russia's moratorium on deployment of intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles is in question because of the "destructive" approach of the US, Reuters reports citing Russia's state news agency RIA.

Russia and the US occasionally exchange views on strategic stability, Ryabkov said, adding that US ambassador Lynne Tracy had left Russia for a certain period of time, TASS news agency reported.

Kyiv detains two Ukrainian security officials over plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy

Here’s more from AFP on the alleged plot to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy:

Ukraine announced Tuesday it had detained two Ukrainian security officials involved in a plot coordinated by Russia to assassinate senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Kyiv says that the Ukrainian leader has been targeted by Russia on multiple occasions, including at the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022. The Security Service of Ukraine said in a statement that it had exposed a network of agents run by Russia’s Federal Security Service whose aim was to assassinate Zelenskiy and other senior Ukrainian political and military officials. “The network, whose activities were supervised by the FSB from Moscow, included two colonels of the State Security Department who were leaking classified information to Russia,” the SBU said. It said that Russia had worked to identify individuals close to Zelenskiy’s security detail who could take the Ukrainian leader hostage and kill him. Polish and Ukrainian prosecutors announced last month they had detained a man suspected of aiding a Russian assassination plot on Zelenskiy. And the SBU said last August that a woman had been arrested for over a plot of kill the Ukrainian leader by trying to uncover details of his movements outside Kyiv.

I’ve corrected a post at 12.27 which erroneously stated that France had summoned Russia’s ambassador, following updated information from the Reuters newswire.

Reuters updated its despatch with the following:

France said on Tuesday that its ambassador to Russia had been summoned on 6 May and accused Moscow’s diplomatic service of manipulating information and intimidation.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Monday it had summoned France’s ambassador in Moscow but did not give a reason.

“France notes that diplomatic channels are once again being abused to manipulate information and intimidate,” France’s foreign ministry said, adding “the Russian Ministry has once again engaged in a reversal of responsibilities” and “is pursuing its aggressive maneuvers aimed at destabilizing European countries, notably through cyberattacks and hybrid actions”.

France said on Tuesday that its ambassador to Russia had been summoned on May 6 and accused Moscow’s diplomatic service of manipulating information and intimidation.

Ukraine says it has foiled Russian plot to assassinate Zelenskiy

Ukraine’s SBU security service claims it has caught a network of Russian agents plotting to assassinate Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other government officials, Reuters reports.

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• Vladimir Putin

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World | Russia says it has captured 5 villages in…

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World | jayson tatum scores 33 points, leads celtics to game 3 victory, world | russia says it has captured 5 villages in northeast ukraine.

Ukrainian officials didn’t confirm whether Russian had taken the villages, which lie in a contested “gray zone” on the border of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Russia.

Ukrainian journalists reported that the villages of Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Strilecha were taken by Russian troops on Friday. Russia said the village of Pletenivka was also taken.

In an evening statement Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said fighting was still ongoing in the settlements of Strilecha and Pletenivka, as well as Krasne, Morokhovets, Oliinykove, Lukyantsi and Hatyshche.

“Our troops are carrying out counterattacks there for a second day, protecting Ukrainian territory,” he said.

The Institute for the Study of War said Friday that geolocated footage confirms at least one of the villages was seized. The Washington-based think tank described recent Russian gains as “tactically significant.”

The renewed assault on the region has forced more than 1,700 civilians residing in settlements near the fighting to flee, according to Ukrainian authorities. It comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted were a concerted effort by Moscow to shape conditions for an offensive.

On Saturday, Russia continued to pummel Vovchansk with airstrikes and Grad rockets as police and volunteers raced to evacuate residents. At least 20 people were evacuated to safety in a nearby village. Police said that 900 people had been evacuated the previous day.

AP journalists who accompanied an evacuation team described empty streets with multiple buildings destroyed and others on fire. The road was littered with newly made craters and the city was covered in dust and shrapnel with the smell of gunpowder heavy in the air. Mushroom clouds of smoke rose across the skyline as Russian jets conducted multiple airstrikes.

The AP journalists witnessed nine air attacks during the three hours they were there.

“The situation in Vovchansk and the settlements along the border (with Russia) is incredibly difficult. Constant aviation strikes are carried out, multiple rocket missile systems strikes, artillery strikes,” said Tamaz Hambarashvili, the head of the Vovchansk military administration.

“For the second day in a row, we evacuated all the inhabitants of our community who are willing to evacuate,” he said. “I think that they are destroying the city to make (local) people leave, to make sure there are no militaries, nobody. To create a ‘gray zone.'”

Evacuees bade tearful goodbyes to their neighbors as they were taken away from their homes.

“You lie down and think — whether they will kill you now, or in an hour, or in three,” said resident Valentyna Hrevnova, 75. “I hope that they (Russians) will not come, but ours (Ukrainians) will be here.”

Vera Rudko, 72, was among those who left.

“We drove through Vovchansk in the city center,” Rudko said. “I can’t look at this without tears. Everything is trembling. We didn’t sleep these two nights at all.”

Russia’s recent push in Kharkiv seeks to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front line, and pin down Ukrainian forces in the northeast and keep them away from heavy battles underway in the Donetsk region where Moscow’s troops are gaining ground, analysts said.

Russian military bloggers said the assault could mark the start of a Russian attempt to carve out a “buffer zone” that President Vladimir Putin vowed to create earlier this year to halt frequent Ukrainian attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions. Fears also mount that without adequate supplies, Russia might even be able to cut supply routes and besiege the city of Kharkiv, where 1.1 million people reside.

Ukrainian officials have downplayed Russian statements about captured territory, with reinforcements being rushed to the Kharkiv region to hold off Russian forces.

On Telegram, Kharkiv region Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said that heavy fighting continued in the areas around Borysivka, Ohirtseve, Pylna and Oliinykove, but that the situation was under control and there was no threat of a ground assault on the city of Kharkiv.

In the meantime, artillery, mortar and aerial bombardments hit more than 30 different towns and villages in the region on Saturday, killing at least three people and injuring five others, Syniehubov said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed Friday evening that Russian forces were expanding their operations. He also called on the country’s Western allies to ensure that promised deliveries of military aid would swiftly reach the front lines.

“It is critical that partners support our warriors and Ukrainian resilience with timely deliveries. Truly timely ones,” he said in a video statement on X. “A package that truly helps is the actual delivery of weapons to Ukraine, rather than just the announcement of a package.”

The attack was launched from two areas in the Kharkiv region early Friday, Ukrainian officials and analysts said. Russian assault groups attempted to break through Ukrainian defensive lines in the city of Vovchansk and in the region north of the village of Lyptsi.

Separately, Ukrainian forces also launched a barrage of drones and missiles on Friday night, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said, with air defense systems downing 21 rockets and 16 drones over Russia’s Belgorod, Kursk and Volgograd regions. One person died in a drone strike in the Belgorod region, and another in the Kursk region, local officials said.

Another strike set ablaze an oil depot in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Luhansk region, killing four people and wounding eight more, Leonid Pasechnik, the region’s Moscow-installed leader, said on the messaging app Telegram on Saturday.

There was also shelling in the Russian-occupied Donetsk region Saturday, where three people died when an explosion hit a local restaurant, said Denis Pushilin, the area’s Kremlin-appointed leader. Eight more people were wounded, including a child.

In the war’s early days, Russia made a botched attempt to quickly storm Kharkiv but retreated from its outskirts after about a month. In the fall of 2022, seven months later, Ukraine’s army pushed them out of Kharkiv. The bold counterattack helped persuade Western countries that Ukraine could defeat Russia on the battlefield and merited military support.

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