Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying. The UK calls it 'completely baseless'

Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them. The U.K. said the “completely baseless” move came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in London.

The latest East-West tensions unfolded as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. President Vladimir Putin has warned that Kyiv’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement that the Foreign Ministry withdrew the British envoys' accreditations, and Russian TV quoted an FSB official as saying it was decided to expel them.

The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K.'s Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.” It did not identify the six diplomats.

The FSB warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” it “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian TV said the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”

“We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB," she added in an online statement. "The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said breaking off diplomatic relations with the U.K. was not on the table right now.

In calling the Russian allegations "completely baseless,” the U.K. Foreign Office said the expulsions happened weeks ago, linking them to Britain’s decision in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at Moscow’s London embassy and to impose a five-year time limit on all Russian diplomats in Britain.

“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six U.K. diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the U.K. government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the U.K.,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”

In May, the U.K. expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. About a week later, Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché.

Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Last year, the Russian news outlet RBC counted that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined.

On his way to visit the U.S., Starmer said Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.”

“Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.

“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.

Ukraine wants approval to use some weapons to strike deeper into Russia and there are signs that President Joe Biden might shift U.S. policy in response.

While the issue is expected to be at the top of the agenda for their meeting, it appeared unlikely that Biden and Starmer would announce any policy changes at this time, according to two U.S. officials familiar with planning for the talks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private deliberations.

Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kyiv by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter during their visit, noting the U.S. has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.

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Litvinova reported from Tallinn, Estonia, and Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed.

FILE - The Kremlin and embankment of the Moscow River are seen during sunset in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, March, 28, 2020. (AP Photo, File)

A view of the British Embassy building, centre, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building in the right. (AP Photo)

A view of the British Embassy building in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo)

FILE - A view of Lubyanskaya Square with the historical Federal Security Service (FSB, Soviet KGB successor) building, left, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, July 12, 2023. (AP Photo, File)

Boats float past the British Embassy building in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo)

In this photo taken from video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, a Russian soldier stands next to a damaged Ukrainian military vehicle in the Russian - Ukrainian border area in the Kursk region, Russia. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service photo via AP)

A view of the British Embassy building in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024. (AP Photo)

A boats floats past the British Embassy building, centre, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building in the right. (AP Photo)

FILE - The British Embassy building, center, with the Russian Foreign Ministry building, second right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

FILE - Birds fly with the British Embassy building at center in the background in Moscow, Russia, Friday, March 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)

The path for the NFL's Washington Commanders to return to the nation’s capital is clear after an on-again, off-again saga in Congress ended early Saturday with a postmidnight reprieve.

The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to transfer the land including old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed by voice vote at roughly 1:15 a.m. after more than a year of lobbying and support from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., district Mayor Muriel Bowser, Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C., the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK Stadium site," Harris said. "This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”

The RFK Stadium land provision was part of Congress’ initial short-term spending bill Tuesday before it was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of whom amplified misinformation about the site on his social media platform X. Two versions of the House's slimmed-down bill, including the one that passed Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, did not include it.

Giving the local government control of the land for the next 99 years allows for the decaying husk of the old stadium to be torn down and the site redeveloped for any number of things. One of the possibilities is a football stadium and surrounding entertainment options at the franchise's former home.

“We appreciate the bipartisan group of Congressional leaders who made this important breakthrough possible,” the NFL said in a statement. “Washington, D.C., will now have a long-overdue seat at the table when it comes to the location of a new Commanders stadium.”

Bowser called it “a win for D.C., for our region and for America.”

“Everybody loves a good comeback story — and that’s D.C.’s story,” she said.

All that awaits is President Joe Biden's signature to become law, which could come as soon as Saturday. Comer went as far as saying that Senate passage of the bill is “a historic moment for our nation's capital.”

“If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” he said. “Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city. ... This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come.”

Playing in Washington again is no sure thing. The Commanders are also considering other places in the district, Maryland and Virginia to build a stadium in the coming years.

Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.

The team played at RFK Stadium 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland. Harris and several co-owners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington football fans during that era, which included the glory days of three Super Bowl championships from 1982-91.

Ein said on social media, “Still many steps to go and even bigger than a possible stadium last night’s bill was an extraordinary moment of bi-partisan and regional cooperation to do something big and important and get 174 acres of unused, blighted and critical land to DC so they can bring it back to life.”

Part of the way the provision got into the bill initially involved an agreement between the team and Maryland to tear down the current stadium in a timely fashion and redevelop the site with a project of equal economic impact, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the deal was not being publicized.

After the Senate greenlit the RFK Stadium land transfer, Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, said they continued to believe their state's partnership with the team should continue long into the future.

“After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation,” Cardin and Van Hollen said. "We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.”

The team has played games in Maryland since 1997 and practices in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport.

A return to the district would be another victory for Bowser, who on Thursday celebrated the start of an $800 million downtown arena renovation that is keeping the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals in town. At that news conference, she took aim at Musk for sharing incorrect information on X, formerly Twitter, about taxpayers footing the bill for a new stadium.

The bill specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for a stadium on the site, “including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

FILE - A vehicle pushes up pikes of snow after trucks dump their loads of snow in the parking lots of RFK Stadium in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)