RUSSIA STRIPS TWO UK DIPLOMATS OF ACCREDITATION BASED ON SIGNS OF INTELLIGENCE ACTIVITY

MOSCOW, March 10 (Bernama-TASS) -- The second secretary of the British embassy in Moscow and the spouse of another British diplomat have been stripped of accreditation in Russia for providing false information about themselves and based on evidence of their intelligence and covert activities, the Russian News Agency (TASS) reported.

"The Federal Security Service’s counterintelligence operations exposed the unreported intelligence presence of the United Kingdom under the cover of the country’s embassy in Moscow," the Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement.

"It has been reliably established that the embassy’s Second Secretary Alkesh Odedra, born on December 25, 1990, and Michael Skinner, born on June 30, 1992, the spouse of Tabassum Rashid, first secretary of the embassy’s political department, deliberately provided false information when obtaining permission to enter our country, thus violating Russian laws.

The FSB has also discovered evidence of the two diplomats’ intelligence and disruptive activities threatening the security of the Russian Federation," the FSB added.

"On this basis, the Russian Foreign Ministry, in coordination with other interested agencies, decided to strip Alkesh Odedra and Michael Skinner of accreditation. They are required to leave Russia within two weeks," the security service added.

"Russia's FSB will continue working to combat the reconnaissance and disruptive activities of foreign intelligence agencies by all available means," the statement adds.

-- BERNAMA-TASS