Russia withdraws ambassador to UK as Kremlin raises pressure over Ukraine support

Russia withdraws ambassador to UK as Kremlin raises pressure over Ukraine support
Russia has withdrawn its ambassador to the UK, it has emerged, as the Kremlin continues to try to put pressure on Britain over its support for Ukraine.

Andrey Kelin left last month after seven years in the diplomatic post, according to the Russian embassy in London.
Tensions have since ratcheted up, with a warning by the embassy last week of “consequences” after it emerged Britain was supplying attack drones to Kyiv.

Russia’s online list of “senior diplomatic staff” in the UK now includes only Vasily A Tsyganov, chargé d’affaires at the embassy.

A gap between ambassadors was not unprecedented, said John Foreman, a former British defence attache in Moscow and Kyiv. But he said in a post on X: “The embassy’s strident ‘consequences’ statement this week and the huge deterioration of bilateral relations since 2018 and especially since the start of the war make me wonder if Moscow will permanently downgrade the relationship this time, by default by not replacing him.”