UK diplomats sanctioned by Russia

UK diplomats sanctioned by Russia in retaliation for what it said were Britain’s ‘hostile actions’ in Ukraine

• Senior envoy Tom Dodd was given dressing down at Moscow’s foreign ministry
• Diplomats will have to give five days’ notice outside a free movement zone

Russia imposed sanctions on UK diplomats yesterday in retaliation for what it said were Britain’s ‘hostile actions’ in the Ukraine war.

Tom Dodd, a senior envoy, was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow and was given a dressing down for British support of what the Kremlin deems Ukraine’s ‘terrorist actions’ and for allegedly obstructing Russian diplomacy in the UK.

Diplomats, apart from the ambassador and three other top officials, will now have to give at least five days’ notice of travel outside a 75-mile free-movement zone.

The move comes after MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore urged Russians angry at president Vladimir Putin’s war to spy for Britain, telling them ‘our door is always open’ and ‘we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end’.

Meanwhile, a third night of Russian air attacks targeted southern cities in Ukraine yesterday, including the port city of Odesa, where at least two people were killed.

Russia imposed sanctions on UK diplomats yesterday in retaliation for what it said were Britain’s ‘hostile actions’ in the Ukraine war. Pictured: Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Attacks in this region have intensified after Putin pulled Russia out of a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain to countries facing the threat of hunger.

Intense Russian bombardment using drones and missiles damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa, including oil terminals, and destroyed at least 54,400 tonnes of grain.

Moscow had vowed ‘retribution’ earlier this week for an attack that damaged a crucial bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said Ukrainian air defences destroyed all of the 12 Iranian-made Shahed drones and two Kalibr missiles that targeted Odesa. 

But he said air defence systems were unable to shoot down some missiles. In Mykolaiv, another southern city close to the Black Sea, at least 19 people were injured overnight.

German foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock said in a meeting in Brussels yesterday that the EU is involved in efforts to get Ukrainian grain on to the world market.

‘The fact that the Russian president has cancelled the grain agreement and is bombing Odesa is an attack on the people, on the poorest people in the world,’ she said.

‘Hundreds of thousands of people, not to say millions, urgently need grain from Ukraine.’

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