UK expels Russian diplomat in response to Moscow move

In a tit-for-tat move, Britain is expelling a Russian diplomat after a UK diplomat was expelled last month over alleged spying, the British government announced on Wednesday.

Russia's ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office in the wake of last month's "unjustified" expulsion from Moscow, and now the UK government has revoked the accreditation of a Russian diplomat, meaning they will be expelled from the country, said an official statement on the "reciprocal" move.

"We strongly condemn Russia's unjustified decision last month to expel another British diplomat and the malicious public smear campaign that followed. This behavior is wholly unacceptable, and we will not tolerate harassment or intimidation of our diplomatic staff," it said.

"We have therefore summoned the Russian Ambassador to announce we are taking reciprocal action, revoking the accreditation of a Russian diplomat," it added.

"Russia's repeated unprovoked and unjustified actions are designed to disrupt our diplomatic work and form part of a wider campaign of aggressive behavior towards the UK. Any further action by Russia will be treated as an escalation and met with a firm and proportionate response," it also said.