- By James Landale
- Diplomatic correspondent
Image supply, EPA-EFE/Rex/Shutterstock
Russia’s international ministry has imposed tight travel restrictions on British diplomats working within the nation.
It mentioned they need to give no less than 5 days’ discover and supply intensive travel particulars in the event that they need to go away a 120km (75-mile) “free movement zone”.
Only the British ambassador and three senior diplomats are exempted from the measures, the ministry mentioned.
It comes amid worsening relations between Moscow and London following the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the 2 international locations being at odds over the conflict, each have continued to function diplomatic missions on one another’s soil.
The Vienna Convention – which the UK and Russia are each signed as much as – is evident that governments should give accredited diplomats “freedom of movement and travel in its territory”.
So governments hardly ever truly cease diplomats from travelling – however they will make it very troublesome by imposing guidelines and laws, such because the Russian authorities has.
The Russian international ministry mentioned British diplomats must present particulars of lodging, transport, deliberate contacts and the aim of any journey earlier than travelling inside Russia.
The restrictions may also be utilized to diplomats working on the British consulate in Yekaterinburg, a metropolis round 1090km (880 miles) to the east of Moscow.
The ensuing bureaucratic calls for are time-consuming and onerous however are simply throughout the letter of the Vienna Convention.
In fact, this is only one of many irregular methods of constructing life troublesome for diplomats.
They might discover visa purposes take time. They and their households could possibly be topic to higher or lesser surveillance.
One diplomat as soon as instructed me that she returned to her flat in Moscow one night to search out the magnetised letters on her fridge had been re-arranged to spell FSB, the Russia safety service.
Another discovered her cat frozen to demise exterior her flat. She suspected it had been shut out intentionally.
So it isn’t uncommon for authoritarian states to make life troublesome for diplomats. For many, it goes with the territory.
The announcement was made shortly after the UK’s interim cost d’affaires attended a gathering with Russian officers and was knowledgeable of the choice.
The UK Foreign Office has disputed the Russian international ministry’s declare that the senior British diplomat had been “summoned”, describing it as “disinformation”.
A spokesperson for the division mentioned: “This was a planned meeting, held at our request, as part of standard diplomatic practice.”
In a press release confirming the restrictions, Russia cited the UK’s assist of the Ukrainian authorities.
It accused the UK of conducting “hostile actions… including the obstruction of the normal functioning of Russian diplomatic offices in the UK”.
The UK Foreign Office has not mentioned the way it will reply to the transfer.
