Russia’s spy claims about expelled diplomats are ‘baseless’, UK says, as Putin ramps up row over Ukraine weapons – live | Russia

The UK government has said that claims made by Russia’s security services about six members of British diplomatic staff it has expelled from Russia are “baseless”.

In a statement, the UK government said:

The accusations made today by the FSB against our staff are completely baseless. The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state directed activity across Europe and in the UK. We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.

The announcement that Russia evoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow on accusations of espionage came as Keir Starmer was landing in Washington to discuss letting Ukraine use long-range missiles deep inside Russian territory.

The FSB security agency said on Friday it had taken the measure after uncovering documents showing that part of the Foreign Office was helping coordinate what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” in Ukraine.

The Guardian’s political correspondent Kiran Stacey reports:

The Guardian understands the move was made several months ago, after the Metropolitan police charged a group of British men with planning an arson attack against Ukrainian-linked businesses on behalf of the Russian state. But it was only announced in a statement on Friday morning.

Russian media has named and published photographs of the six British members of diplomatic staff.

Ashifa Kassam

Ashifa Kassam is the Guardian’s European community affairs correspondent

Rights campaigners say that as many 3,000 Ukrainian refugees living in Hungary have been affected by a new Hungarian decree that cancels state-funded shelters for refugees from western Ukraine.

The government issued the new decree in June, limiting state-funded housing to Ukrainian refugees that hail from areas it deems as war-torn. The decree entered into force late last month, essentially declaring swathes of Ukraine safe to return to.

The Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which works closely with affected groups, said approximately 3,000 Ukrainian refugees were affected by the new decree, leading to homelessness and the inability to access social services such as health care and education, which require a registered address in Hungary.

While the decree includes a stipulation that the government will review the situation monthly, rights campaigners pointed to a Lviv attack by Russian forces in early September and noted that, one week later, the Hungarian government had not modified its stance regarding refugees from this area.

This week Human Rights Watch, arguing that the decree breaches the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive that was triggered in March 2022 following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, urged the European Commission to “take immediate action” and initiate infringement proceedings against Hungary under EU law.

Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch said:

Leaving refugees fleeing a devastating war homeless not only flies in the face of Hungary’s international obligations but is also a worrying reminder of the government’s consistently inhumane and cruel policies with respect to people seeking safety in Hungary. The European Commission should press Budapest to do its duty and ensure that all Ukrainian refugees enjoy the benefits of temporary protection.

The European Union has issued a statement saying that it “strongly condemns the recent transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia” and has threatened further sanctions.

It says:

This transfer is a direct threat to European security and represents a substantive material escalation from the provision of Iranian UAVs and ammunition, which Russia has used in its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.

The EU’s position on Iran’s involvement in Russia’s war has always been clear. The EU has repeatedly strongly cautioned Iran against transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia.

The EU will respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners, including with new and significant restrictive measures against Iran, including the designation of individuals and entities involved with Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programmes, and in this regard is considering restrictive measures in Iran’s aviation sector as well.

Earlier Reuters reported that France had summoned Iran’s chargé d’affaires in Paris to remonstrate over the transfer of the missiles from Iran to Russia.

Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk has dismissed comments by Russian president Vladimir Putin about the risk of escalation if Ukraine is allowed to use longer-range Nato-supplied weapons to strike at targets inside Russian, as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been requesting.

Reuters reports that, speaking to the media, Tusk said on Friday morning:

It is necessary to take all events in Ukraine and on the Ukrainian-Russian front very seriously, but I would not attach excessive importance to the latest statements from President Putin. They rather show the difficult situation the Russians have on the front.

The Russian president has said that lifting long-range missile restrictions on Ukraine would mean that Nato countries would be at war with Russia. Taking questions from reporters in Moscow, Putin said: “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of Nato countries, the United States, and European countries in the war in Ukraine.”

Earlier today a key ally of Putin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, echoed those words, claiming “The US, Germany, Britain and France are discussing the possibility of strikes using long-range weapons on the territory of our country. This is nothing but an attempt to camouflage and conceal their direct participation in military action.”

The UK prime minister Keir Starmer is in Washington today to meet with US president Joe Biden, where he is expected to seek US approval for a plan to allow Ukraine to utilise the British “Storm Shadow” missile to strike targets inside Russia.

The chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on Friday accused Nato of being a direct party to military action in Ukraine, suggesting it was already heavily involved in military decision-making.

The comments were made by Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, came a day after Putin warned that the West would be directly fighting with Russia if it allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with western-made long-range missiles.

Reuters quotes Volodin, accussing Nato of helping Ukraine choose which Russian cities to target, of agreeing specific military action, and of giving Kyiv orders:

The US, Germany, Britain and France are discussing the possibility of strikes using long-range weapons on the territory of our country. This is nothing but an attempt to camouflage and conceal their direct participation in military action.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova has said the British diplomatic mission in Russia had been engaged in activities “far beyond” the Vienna convention that were “aimed at causing harm to our people”.

Speaking to state-owned news agency Tass, she said:

We fully share the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB. The British embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna conventions. But the most important thing is that we are not only talking about the formal side of the issue and the inconsistency with the declared activities, but about such actions aimed at causing harm to our people.

Zakharova did not produce any evidence to back up the assertion. Russia has claimed that a department in the British foreign office has been, Tass reports, “transformed into a special service for inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia.”

Russia’s FSB security service has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow whose actions it said showed signs of spying and sabotage work.

The FSB said on Friday it had documents showing that a British Foreign Office department in London was coordinating what it called “the escalation of the political and military situation” and was tasked with ensuring Russia’s strategic defeat in its war against Ukraine.

“Thus, the facts revealed give grounds to consider the activities of British diplomats sent to Moscow by the directorate as threatening the security of the Russian Federation,” the FSB said in a statement.

It added: “In this connection, on the basis of documents provided by the Federal Security Service of Russia and as a response to the numerous unfriendly steps taken by London, the ministry of foreign affairs of Russia, in cooperation with the agencies concerned, has terminated the accreditation of six members of the political department of the British embassy in Moscow in whose actions signs of spying and sabotage were found.”

The six diplomats were named on Russian state TV, which also showed photographs of them.

An FSB employee told Rossiya-24: “The English did not take our hints about the need to stop this practice [of carrying out intelligence activities inside Russia], so we decided to expel these six to begin with.”

Welcome to the Guardian’s ongoing live coverage of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Here are your headlines …

• Russia’s FSB security service has revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow whose actions it said showed signs of spying and sabotage work. The six diplomats were named on Russian state TV, which also showed photographs of them

• Vladimir Putin has said that a western move to let Kyiv use longer-range weapons against targets inside Russia would mean Nato would be “at war” with Moscow. Putin spoke as US and UK top diplomats discussed easing rules on firing western weapons into Russia, which Kyiv has been pressing for, more than two and a half years into Moscow’s offensive. The Russian president has frequently accused Nato of being an active participant in the war

• The UK prime minister Keir Starmer has told Putin that he started the war in Ukraine and could end it at any time. Responding directly to threats by the Russian president, Starmer told reporters: “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. Ukraine has the right to self-defence”

• Ukraine’s air force said on Friday it shot down 24 of 26 Russia-launched drones overnight over five Ukrainian regions

• Russia says its forces have recaptured 10 settlements after it launched a counteroffensive in the Kursk region to push out Ukrainian troops who stormed across the border five weeks ago. With fierce fighting continuing, Russia’s defence ministry listed the names of 10 settlements it said it had retaken

It is Martin Belam with you today. You can contact me on martin.belam@theguardian.com.