Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying but the UK calls it ‘completely baseless’

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy (L) shakes hands with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (R) next to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2ndR) during the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit in Kyiv, on September 11, 2024 (AFP)
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Updated 14 September 2024
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Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying but the UK calls it ‘completely baseless’

  • The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities”
  • Foreign Office said in a statement: “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests”

MOSCOW/LONDON: Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them. The UK said the “completely baseless” move came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in London,
The latest East-West tensions unfolded as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. President Vladimir Putin has warned that Kyiv’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement that the Foreign Ministry withdrew the British envoys’ accreditations, and Russian TV quoted an FSB official as saying it was decided to expel them.
The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the UK’s Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.” It did not identify the six diplomats.
The FSB warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” it “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian TV said the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”
“We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB,” she added in an online statement. “The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said breaking off diplomatic relations with the UK was not on the table right now.
In calling the Russian allegations “completely baseless,” the UK Foreign Office said the expulsions happened weeks ago, linking them to Britain’s decision in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at Moscow’s London embassy and to impose a five-year time limit on all Russian diplomats in Britain.
“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the UK,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”
In May, the UK expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. About a week later, Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché.
Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last year, the Russian news outlet RBC counted that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
On his way to visit the US, Starmer said Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.”
“Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.
“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.
Ukraine wants approval to use some weapons to strike deeper into Russia and there are signs that President Joe Biden might shift US policy in response.
While the issue is expected to be at the top of the agenda for their meeting, it appeared unlikely that Biden and Starmer would announce any policy changes at this time, according to two US officials familiar with planning for the talks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private deliberations.
Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter during their visit, noting the US has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.


Russia hits civilian, critical infrastructure, injures 10 in Ukraine

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Russia hits civilian, critical infrastructure, injures 10 in Ukraine

Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure
Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment

KYIV: Attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine overnight and on Thursday across the country hit civilian and critical infrastructure facilities, injuring at least 10 people, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia launched two ballistic missiles on the southern city of Mykolaiv in the early afternoon, targeting critical infrastructure, regional Governor Vitaliy Kim said.
Two people were wounded and a piece of equipment destroyed, he said in televised comments, without giving more details.
Russian troops also shelled Kherson and damaged energy equipment, according to Roman Mrochko, head of the southern city's military administration. Several settlements and part of the city were facing power outages, he said.
Separately, a flurry of Russian guided bombs early in the morning injured six people, including a 17-year-old girl, and damaged 29 buildings in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, its regional governor Ivan Fedorov, said.
Ukraine's air force said on the Telegram messaging app that it had downed 41 out of 62 drones launched by Russia. Russian forces also launched eight missiles, it added, while 14 drones were "locationally lost".
"As a result of the Russian missile and drone attacks civilian objects and critical infrastructure facilities in the Odesa, Poltava and Donetsk regions were hit," it said.
A drone attack on the central city of Kryvyi Rih injured two people and damaged a five-storey residential building, causing a fire, Dnipropetrovsk region governor, Serhiy Lysak, said.
The emergency services rescued seven people from the damaged part of the building and put out the fire at the site, he added.
Separately, a cruise missile attack late on Wednesday damaged a storage area at an infrastructure facility in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, causing a blaze that was later extinguished, the governor said.
Regional authorities also reported late on Wednesday that a ballistic missile attack had hit port infrastructure in the Odesa region, killing eight people and damaging a Panama-flagged container ship.

UK religious hate crime hits record high over Gaza war

Muslims arrive at the East London Mosque & London Muslim Center. (File/AFP)
Updated 10 October 2024
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UK religious hate crime hits record high over Gaza war

  • There were 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims and hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282
  • “The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper

LONDON: Religious hate crime in England and Wales rose by a record 25 percent in the last year, fueled by a spike since the start of the war in Gaza, government data showed Thursday.
The highest annual figure of religious hate crimes in over a decade was due to a rise in offenses “against Jewish people and to a lesser extent Muslims” since the Hamas attack of October 7 last year, the interior ministry said.
Overall, there were 140,561 hate crimes — defined as an offense based on a person’s race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, disability or transgender identity — recorded by the police in the 12 months to March.
Most — 98,799 or 70 percent — were racially motivated.
Both the overall and race hate crime figures are down five percent on the previous 12 months.
But religious hate crimes surged from 8,370 in 2022-23 to nearly 10,500 — the highest annual figure since data collection began in 2012.
Hate crimes against Jewish people more than doubled to 3,282 while there were also 3,866 hate crimes against Muslims.
“The appalling levels of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic hate crimes outlined in today’s figures are a stain on our society,” said interior minister Yvette Cooper.
She promised to tackle “this toxic hatred wherever it is found,” adding: “We must not allow events unfolding in the Middle East to play out in increased hatred and tension here on our streets.
“Those who push this poison — offline or online — must face the full force of the law.”
The latest data comes just days after marches and memorials took place across the country to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’s attack against Israel and Israel’s retaliation in Gaza, which the group controls.
British faith leaders, including from Jewish and Muslim communities, have called for the public to reject “prejudice and hatred in all its forms.”
Police in England and Wales recorded a fall in hate crimes on the basis of sexual orientation, disability, and against transgender people.


Myanmar junta authorities arrest prominent protest leader

Updated 10 October 2024
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Myanmar junta authorities arrest prominent protest leader

  • Paing Phyo Min was arrested late Wednesday after authorities entered a residence in east Yangon’s Thaketa township

BANGKOK: Myanmar security forces have arrested a prominent democracy activist and protest leader in a nighttime raid in commercial hub Yangon, a member of his protest group said on Thursday.
Paing Phyo Min was arrested late Wednesday after authorities entered a residence in east Yangon’s Thaketa township, Nan Lin of the “Anti-junta Alliance Yangon” protest group said.
Paing Phyo Min had not been heard from since, he said, adding, “We are very concerned about his life and safety.”
Amnesty International said it understood Paing Phyo Min and Shein Wai Aung, another activist, “were arrested on 9 October and sent to an interrogation center.”
Shein Wai Aung and his father, mother and sister were all uncontactable, Amnesty said.
Junta authorities in Yangon were not immediately reachable when contacted by AFP.
In 2019, under the quasi-civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi, Paing Phyo Min was jailed for six years for performing a satirical poem criticizing the military.
The sentence sparked criticism from rights group Amnesty International and he was released in 2021, according to the watchdog.
Following the military’s 2021 ouster of Suu Kyi’s government, Paing Phyo Min helped organize pro-democracy demonstrations in Yangon that were later crushed by security forces.
The junta maintains a widespread network of informants and undercover police in Yangon and has largely squashed open challenges to its rule in the city of around eight million.
“The Myanmar military must urgently account for the whereabouts and wellbeing of Paing Phyo Min and of Shein Wai Aung and his family,” Amnesty’s Myanmar researcher Joe Freeman said.
“Unless they can be charged with an internationally recognized crime, they must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
More than 27,000 people have been arrested by the junta in its crackdown on dissent since the coup, according to a local monitoring group.
“Protesting in Myanmar today is not the same as it was before the coup. Anyone involved in any kind of dissent against the military faces long jail terms, torture and other ill-treatment, and even death in custody,” Freeman said.
Security forces have used torture and sexual violence in their crackdown on dissent, according to rights groups, and the United Nations rights office said in 2022 at least 290 people had died in custody.


Shooting at Israeli company in Sweden, no injuries: police, media

Updated 10 October 2024
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Shooting at Israeli company in Sweden, no injuries: police, media

  • No injuries had been reported and that a young suspect had been arrested

Stockholm: An office of Israeli military technology firm Elbit Systems in Gothenburg was the target of a shooting Thursday, according to media, with Swedish police saying there were no injuries.
Police told AFP that they had responded to a shooting “against an Israeli object in Kalleback” in Gothenburg, a coastal city in southwestern Sweden.
They added that no injuries had been reported and that a young suspect had been arrested.
Newspaper Aftonbladet said the suspect was under the age of 15.
An investigation has been opened into “attempted murder” and an “aggravated weapons crime,” police spokesman Fredrik Svedemyr said.
Svedemyr said police had sent several patrols and a helicopter to the scene.
Elbit Systems said in an email to AFP that they “currently had no comment.”
In early June, police said they had found a “suspected explosive object” outside the offices of the military technology firm, known for its unmanned aerial systems.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, there have been several incidents apparently targeting Israeli interests in Sweden.
In February, police found a grenade on the grounds of the Israeli embassy compound, which the ambassador said was an attempted attack.
In mid-May, gunshots were fired outside the Israeli embassy, which prompted the country to boost security measures around Israeli interests and Jewish community institutions.
The Scandinavian country’s intelligence agency Sapo said in late May that Iran was recruiting members of Swedish criminal gangs to commit “acts of violence” against Israeli and other interests in Sweden — a claim Iran denied.
Last week, police said once again that it was stepping up security around Israeli and Jewish interests in response to a second shooting at the Israeli embassy in Stockholm and twin blasts, suspected to be caused by hand grenades, outside the Israeli embassy in neighboring Denmark.


Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in London for talks with UK’s Starmer, NATO’s Rutte

Updated 10 October 2024
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Ukraine’s Zelensky arrives in London for talks with UK’s Starmer, NATO’s Rutte

  • Zelensky and Starmer have both said the war with Russia is at a critical point
  • Ukrainian leader is keen for the West to deliver long-range missiles to change the balance on the battlefield

LONDON: President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in London for talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO chief Mark Rutte on Thursday, a boost for Ukraine after a summit of its main backers was canceled at a difficult moment in its fight against Russia.
Zelensky and Starmer have both said the war with Russia is at a critical point, and the Ukrainian leader is keen for the West to deliver long-range missiles and other support to try to change the balance on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian president had been due to present a “victory plan” for the war to allies in Germany this week, but the summit was postponed after US President Joe Biden canceled his visit to focus on Hurricane Milton.
Starmer said at the start of his meeting with Zelensky in Downing Street that it was “very important we are able to show our continued commitment to support Ukraine” and it was a chance to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail.”
NATO’s new secretary-general, Mark Rutte, was also due to meet Starmer and Zelensky in Downing Street later on Thursday.
Zelensky is traveling in Europe to meet allies this week. He was in Croatia on Wednesday and will meet Pope Francis on Friday.
Ukraine’s arms donors had been set to convene at the Ramstein Air Base for their highest-level meeting on the sidelines of a Biden state visit to Germany.
But the White House said Biden needed to oversee preparations for Hurricane Milton and relief efforts after another hurricane last month killed more than 200 people.