22/12/2010 10:45
Britain, Russia trade tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats
Britain has expelled a Russian diplomat, and Russia expelled a Briton in the latest skirmish in a long-running spat over spying, NTV reports.
Foreign Secretary William Hague said Tuesday that Britain had asked the Russian Embassy in London to withdraw a staff member on Dec. 10 "in response to clear evidence of activities by the Russian intelligence services against U.K. interests."
He said Russia, in return, expelled a diplomat from the British Embassy in Moscow.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Kremlin refused to comment when contacted by the Associated Press.
U.K.-Russia relations soured after the 2006 poisoning death in London of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko. Russia has refused to extradite Britain's main suspect in the case, former KGB officer Andrei Lugovoi.