India, March 13 -- The UK government on Wednesday expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in what it dubbed as a tit-for-tat move to the expulsion of two British embassy staff in Moscow early this week.

The Foreign Office said that the decision came after an "increasingly aggressive and coordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats" which, it suggested that represented a bid to drive the British embassy in Moscow to closure.

Russian ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin was summoned to be informed about the expulsions.

In a post on X, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said, "We will not tolerate the Kremlin's relentless and unacceptable campaign of intimidation, nor their repeated attempts to threaten UK security." ...