Britain summoned Russia's ambassador in London on Wednesday and expelled a Russian diplomat and a diplomatic spouse in retaliation.
“It is clear that the Russian state is actively seeking to drive the British Embassy in Moscow towards closure,” the British Foreign Office said in a statement on Wednesday.
Russia's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
Asked about Russian enmity towards London, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said it would not engage with “every baseless claim” made by Moscow.
“They started this war, and while they’re busy stoking division, the UK and our allies, including the US, are focused on securing a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. Anything which suggests otherwise is clearly nonsense,” the spokesperson said.
**'HOSTILE ACTION'**
Russia, according to the head of Britain's MI6 secret intelligence service, has used “staggeringly reckless” sabotage on British and European soil.
A London court this month found three Bulgarians guilty of being part of a Russian spy unit. In October, a British man admitted to a London court he had carried out an arson attack on a Ukrainian-owned warehouse in east London on behalf of Russia.
A British inquiry blamed Russia for the 2006 poisoning of Kremlin critic Alexander Litvinenko in London with a radioactive substance. London also accused Moscow of the 2018 Salisbury poisoning that used the Novichok nerve agent. Moscow rejected those accusations.
Some Russian politicians have suggested, without providing evidence, that Britain helped Ukraine carry out sabotage operations on Russian targets such as on the bridge linking Crimea with mainland Russia, in which two people were killed in 2023.
One of the three Russian officials said Starmer, like Boris Johnson before him, was using the Ukraine war to distract from domestic problems. London says it wants to ensure Ukraine is not forced to capitulate on unreasonable terms.
**'THE ENGLISH WOMAN CREATES PROBLEMS'**
Nationalist commentators on Russian state TV have started telling Russians that London has been trying to undermine Moscow for centuries.
Despite London's popularity as a Russian investment destination after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, distrust of Britain traces its roots back to at least the Crimean War of 1853-1856, when it was part of an alliance that defeated the Russian Empire.
Britain's more recent purported transgressions have had Russian politicians reaching for a nineteenth century phrase used to describe Britain's hostile foreign policy towards Russia under Queen Victoria: “The English woman creates problems,” a saying meant to signify Britain's alleged systematic malevolence towards Moscow.
The new, souring anti-British mood, which has been accompanied by a marked and rapid softening of anti-US rhetoric in state media, could leave London more exposed.
As Russia enters a fourth year of war with its economy overheating, there is a sense in Moscow that Trump’s new approach offers a chance for peace on terms favourable to Moscow.
Some legislators have said companies from “hostile” nations like Britain should not be allowed back even if Western sanctions are eased after an eventual peace deal with Ukraine, or given a much harder ride if they are.
Vyacheslav Volodin, a top Putin ally, this week spoke of the need to claw back money from Britain, a reference to interest accrued on frozen Russian assets in the UK worth about $26bn that London has been handing to Ukraine.
British-Russia trade has shrunk from over more than £16bn in 2021 to just over £2bn in 2023, according to UK government data, with oil company BP taking a hit of more than $20bn to exit Russia in 2022.
Other British companies, such as the British-Swedish pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline, continue to do business there.
**BRITISH LOCOMOTIVE**
Some in Britain might be surprised by the global importance attributed to London's intelligence services and special forces by Moscow. But one of the three Russian officials said London had shown it was able to lead by example on Ukraine.
“They're the locomotive and pull others along with them,” the official said.
Britain, which offers training and finance to the Ukrainian military, was the first country to pledge Western-made main battle tanks to Ukraine and the first to deliver long-range cruise missiles at a time when other countries were hesitating.
It deeply angered Russia.
“If today Britain is hitting our territory with its missiles from Ukraine ... I consider this a good reason for Britain to cease to exist, Andrei Gurulyov, a pro-Putin legislator and former military commander, told state TV in January.
Russia's attempt to cast Britain as a warmonger echoes Putin's accusation that former British prime minister Boris Johnson persuaded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to walk away from a potential peace deal in 2022, an assertion Johnson and Zelensky reject.
And though it would appear to weaken the charge that Britain poses a threat to Moscow, Russian politicians and commentators have been eager to point out the shrunken state of the British military, which now has less than 75,000 full-time army soldiers. Russia has an estimated 1.1-million active servicemen.
State TV anchor Yevgeny Kiselyov used his flagship show this month to quip that the entire British army could fit into London’s Wembley football stadium.
**Reuters**