Britain will expel 23 Russian diplomats it says are undeclared spies and suspend all high-level contact with Moscow, in the first retaliation for suspected Russian involvement in the attack on double-agent Sergei Skripal.
Theresa May vowed a robust response by Britain to a “well-established pattern of Russian state aggression”, raising the possibility that the diplomatic clash between Moscow and London would deteriorate into a wider international stand-off.
The UK prime minister said that the expulsion of diplomats was the largest for more than 30 years and would “fundamentally degrade” Russia’s intelligence ability in the UK for years to come. The expelled officials, who have a week to leave, represent nearly half of Russia’s 58 diplomats in the UK.