MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia said on Thursday it was imposing restrictions on British diplomats, requiring them to give five days’ notice of any plans to travel beyond a 120-km (75-mile) radius, due to what it called London’s “hostile actions”.
Britain’s chargé d’affaires in Russia was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow to be scolded for what Moscow said was support for the “terrorist actions” of Ukraine and for obstruction of Russian diplomacy in Britain.
“The British side was also informed of the decision to introduce a notification procedure for the movement of employees of British diplomatic missions on the territory of our country as a response to London’s hostile actions,” the ministry said.
Britain is one of the loudest cheerleaders for concerted international opposition to what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, and one of the leading Western suppliers of weaponry to help Ukraine defend itself.
British diplomats, with the exception of the ambassador and three other senior diplomats, will be required to send notification of any plans to travel beyond the 120-km (75-mile) “free movement zone” at least five working days ahead.
“Such a document should contain information about the timing, purpose, type of trip, planned business contacts, accompanying persons, type of transport, places of visit and accommodation, as well as the route of the trip,” the ministry said.
(Reporting by Felix Light and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
