Russia ordered a British diplomat to leave Moscow on Monday after the Federal Security Service accused him of conducting intelligence activities that threaten Russia’s security, the latest in a series of expulsions that have marked relations between the two countries in recent years.

The FSB identified the diplomat as Albertus Gerhardus Janse Van Rensburg, a 29-year-old secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow. Authorities accused him of providing false information about himself upon entering the country and of seeking to gather sensitive economic information through informal meetings with Russian experts. The FSB revoked his accreditation and ordered him to leave Russia within two weeks.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Britain’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow to hand over a formal protest note. The UK government had not publicly commented on the expulsion as of the latest reports.

Moscow and London have engaged in a pattern of diplomatic expulsions in recent years amid tensions over espionage and the war in Ukraine. Russia has accused British intelligence of operating through diplomatic cover on multiple occasions, while the UK has expelled Russian diplomats on similar grounds. The latest move deepens a deterioration in bilateral relations that shows no sign of reversing.

The expulsion comes at a moment when European governments face pressure on multiple fronts, with the West Asia conflict driving energy prices and straining economies across the continent. Britain maintains its position in support of Ukraine and has imposed sanctions on Russia, factors that continue to fuel friction between London and Moscow.

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