The intelligence agent was working at the UK Embassy in Moscow, according to officials

Russia has ordered the expulsion of a British diplomatic staff member who is suspected of working for UK intelligence.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) stated on Thursday that Gareth Samuel Davies, a secretary at the British Embassy in Moscow, is working for the UK secret services.

The Foreign Ministry said it had summoned the UK’s charge d’affaires, Danae Dholakia, to issue her with a formal protest and demand the suspected spy’s departure from Russia within two weeks.

“Moscow will not tolerate activities of undeclared agents of British special services on Russian territory,” the ministry stressed, adding that the government has a zero-tolerance policy on matters of national security.

The deputy head of the British mission declined to speak to journalists when she arrived and departed the Foreign Ministry building earlier in the day.

The UK and Russia have long had strained relations marked by multiple mutual expulsions of diplomatic staff, often on suspicions of espionage. Moscow accuses London of being a key driver of the Ukraine conflict, alleging that the British government is deliberately seeking to prolong the hostilities in a bid to confront Russia – a strategy Russian officials claim the UK has pursued for decades.