British ambassador to Moscow Nigel Casey rudely brushed off an RT journalist after getting a dressing-down by the Russian Foreign Ministry over one of his employee’s spy activities.
Edward Prior Wilks, second secretary in the British Embassy’s political department, was declared persona non grata because he “intentionally made false statements” on his visa application, the FSB said on Tuesday.
The Russian security service also said it found evidence of Wilks’ involvement in “intelligence and sabotage activities.”
Casey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow on Tuesday, to receive the Russian complaint regarding his subordinate’s subversive actions. While leaving the building on Smolenskaya Square, the British ambassador ran into a crowd of reporters.
“Buzz off!” he told RT’s Chay Bowes, who asked him about the espionage scandal.
“Why can you spend hundreds of millions of pounds to kill Russian citizens, but you won’t pay for the pensioners’ fuel?” Bowes asked, as Casey fled into an embassy car, which then drove off.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has abolished the £300 ($390) winter fuel subsidy for millions of pensioners, citing holes in the budget, while doubling down on London’s support for Ukraine’s war effort.
After expelling Wilks, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced it would subject all paperwork submitted by British diplomats to increased scrutiny. Moscow also warned London it would immediately retaliate if the UK chose to escalate the situation.