Russia has banned cabinet ministers including Angela Rayner, Yvette Cooper and Rachel Reeves from entering the country under new sanctions announced by Moscow’s foreign affairs ministry.
More than a dozen other senior Labour politicians are among the 30 British citizens on the Russian “stop list” after tensions between London and Moscow rose following Ukraine’s recent use of British missiles to strike deeper into Russia.
Moscow also said it was expelling a British diplomat for alleged spying, the latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions reflecting strained relations since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The UK this week imposed fresh sanctions on 30 oil tankers from Russia’s “shadow fleet” as it tries to squeeze Vladimir Putin’s funding of the war in Ukraine.
The Russian ministry said it was putting politicians, military officials, journalists and tech industry figures on its “stop list” as a result of “incessant aggressive anti-Russian rhetoric” by the UK government.
Keir Starmer, the prime minister, and David Lammy, the foreign secretary, have already been banned from entering Russia, and were on an equivalent list of 39 senior British politicians, businesspeople and journalists in 2022.
The FSB, Russia’s domestic intelligence agency, announced on Tuesday that it had acted on documents accusing a British diplomat of engaging in “reconnaissance and subversive activities that threaten the country’s security”.
It claimed the diplomat “intentionally provided false information when applying for entry into Russia, thereby violating Russian law”. Russian media reported that the diplomat had been given two weeks to leave the country.
According to the FSB, the diplomat, whose photo was splashed across Russian TV news bulletins, had been a replacement for one of six UK diplomats expelled in August, also over accusations of espionage. The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said at the time that the accusations were baseless.
The British ambassador to Russia, Nigel Casey, visited the Russian foreign ministry in Moscow on Tuesday. Photograph: Tatyana Makeyeva/Reuters
The Russian foreign ministry said it had summoned the British ambassador in Moscow, Nigel Casey.
An FCDO spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on Russian designations, we can’t see any member of this government travelling to Russia anytime until Putin rolls back his tanks and ends his illegal invasion of Ukraine.”
A No 10 spokesperson said: “To be clear, we refute these allegations. They’re baseless. We’re now considering our response.
“This is not the first time that Putin’s government has made malicious, baseless accusations against our staff.”
In May, Britain expelled a senior Russian defence attache, accusing them of operating as an undeclared military intelligence officer. In retaliation, Moscow ordered the British defence attache to leave Russia.
In September, Russia announced it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats it accused of spying, coinciding with Starmer’s visit to Washington, where the use of Storm Shadow missiles was to be discussed.
The spokesperson added: “The UK government is unapologetic about protecting our national interests and will now respond in due course, and our embassy in Moscow will continue its important work in Russia to support UK interests.”
Relations between Britain and Russia reached a new low last week after Britain agreed to allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles
on targets inside Russia. The green light came days after Joe Biden, the US president, agreed to do the same for
America’s
long-range Atacms weapon.
The decision to approve the strikes was made in response to the deployment of more than 10,000 North Korean troops on Russia’s border with Ukraine, which UK and US officials warned was a significant escalation of the near three-year conflict.
Kyiv has since used Storm Shadow missiles to strike a command headquarters in the village of Maryno in the Kursk region. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Britain had sent dozens more of the missiles to Ukraine several weeks ago.
Meanwhile, British troops have been drafted in to help the US Air Force find out who is responsible for flying drones over three bases in England.
A small number of drones were spotted overnight flying over RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Feltwell in Norfolk, the USAF confirmed.
It comes days after it was confirmed that a small number of “unmanned aerial systems” were spotted in the vicinity of the three bases between Wednesday and Sunday.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “We take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites. “We are supporting the US Air Force response.”
