In Moscow, the timing of the announcement of the British diplomats’ expulsion seems no coincidence
Ivor Bennett, Moscow correspondent
The expulsion of the diplomats was announced with great fanfare on Russian state television.
In one report, a REN TV correspondent breathlessly described them as “MI6 secret service agents working undercover”.
“They wore the masks of diplomats and followed the orders of the authorities,” he continues.
They seem to be having fun.
Six people’s passport-style photographs (which would have been submitted with their visa applications) are flashed on screen like mug shots, and the individuals’ names are published and denounced.
There is footage filmed by FSB agents that shows them wandering around Moscow.
One was caught having lunch with someone (“to secretly recruit the people we needed,” the reporter claims).
Another has been seen attending court hearings of prominent human rights activists and meeting with independent journalists in parks.
But, as the reporter put it, “for them, their Moscow tour is over.”
According to Whitehall, the diplomats left the country in August, part of a wave of tit-for-tat expulsions by both sides that has been going on for several years. So why is Moscow only making this public now?
Judging by television reports, the timing is no coincidence.
With talk circulating that the UK and US are considering giving Ukraine permission to attack deeper into Russia with Western weaponry, it’s hard not to see that as relevant.
It feels like Moscow is now trying to pressure London into retracting its green light for Kiev.
I think the Kremlin is also trying to shape public opinion with this spy scandal: if Western countries approve the missile launches, Russia wants its people to see it as an act of aggression by a foreign enemy.
It certainly seems to be effective.
“I think what they’re doing is terrible,” Irina said, speaking on the banks of the Moskva River outside the British Embassy in Moscow.
Vladimir is equally forthright: “Let us put on our gloves and boots and march into Europe together.”
Not everyone has heard of the espionage allegations, but they are still inclined to believe them.
“Why shouldn’t I believe it?” asks Svetlana.
Her friend Tatiana then interjects: “We tend to trust the government.
“Do you think the government is lying? We don’t think so.”