Britain Expels Russian Military Attaché and Restricts Diplomatic Visa Validity for Russians
The United Kingdom government will expel the Russian military attaché from the country due to "reckless and dangerous activities by the Russian government across Europe." Additionally, Great Britain will revoke the diplomatic status of certain Russian properties and limit the duration of stay for Russian diplomats in the country. This information comes from Sky News, citing James Cleverly, the head of the UK's Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"I can tell the House that we will expel the Russian military attaché, who is an undeclared officer of Russian military intelligence. We are also introducing new restrictions on issuing Russian diplomatic visas, including limitations on the duration of stay for Russian diplomats in the UK," stated a senior British official.
Furthermore, according to James Cleverly, diplomatic status will be revoked for several properties owned by Russia in the UK, including Seacocks House in Sussex and the trade and defence department in Haygate, suspected to be used for intelligence purposes.
"Our message to Russia is clear: stop this unlawful war. Withdraw your forces from Ukraine. Cease this harmful activity," concluded James Cleverly.
In other news, The Gaze reported that Germany and the Czech Republic have accused Russia of numerous cyberattacks. The German government announced summoning the temporary chargé d'affaires of the Russian embassy after Berlin accused Russian intelligence services of involvement in cyberattacks, including those against members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany.
Meanwhile, the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that since last year, some Czech institutions have been targets of attacks exploiting a previously unknown vulnerability in the Microsoft Outlook application— the methods and direction of these attacks align with the profile of the APT28 group, linked to Russian military intelligence GRU.
NATO has also expressed solidarity with Germany and the Czech Republic regarding cyberattacks carried out by a Russian hacker group, and is prepared to consider coordinated responses to this threat.