Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying but the UK calls it ‘completely baseless’

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy (L) shakes hands with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky (R) next to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (2ndR) during the Fourth Crimea Platform Leaders Summit in Kyiv, on September 11, 2024 (AFP)
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Updated 14 September 2024
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Russia expels 6 British diplomats it accuses of spying but the UK calls it ‘completely baseless’

  • The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities”
  • Foreign Office said in a statement: “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests”

MOSCOW/LONDON: Russia on Friday accused six British diplomats of spying and said it decided to expel them. The UK said the “completely baseless” move came weeks ago and was linked to its action in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at the Russian Embassy and limit Moscow’s diplomatic activities in London,
The latest East-West tensions unfolded as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. President Vladimir Putin has warned that Kyiv’s use of long-range weapons would put NATO at war with Moscow.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement that the Foreign Ministry withdrew the British envoys’ accreditations, and Russian TV quoted an FSB official as saying it was decided to expel them.
The FSB said it received documents indicating the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the UK’s Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities.” It did not identify the six diplomats.
The FSB warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” it “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.

Russian TV said the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared “foreign agents” — a label Russian authorities have actively used against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement that the diplomats were carrying out “subversive actions aimed at causing harm to our people.”
“We fully agree with the assessments of the activities of the British so-called diplomats expressed by the Russian FSB,” she added in an online statement. “The British Embassy has gone far beyond the limits outlined by the Vienna Conventions.”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said breaking off diplomatic relations with the UK was not on the table right now.
In calling the Russian allegations “completely baseless,” the UK Foreign Office said the expulsions happened weeks ago, linking them to Britain’s decision in May to revoke the credentials of an attaché at Moscow’s London embassy and to impose a five-year time limit on all Russian diplomats in Britain.
“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the UK,” the Foreign Office said in a statement. “We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”
In May, the UK expelled Russia’s defense attaché in London, alleging he was an undeclared intelligence officer, and it closed several Russian diplomatic properties in Britain that it said were being used for spying. About a week later, Russia reciprocated and expelled Britain’s defense attaché.
Expulsions of diplomats — both Western envoys working in Russia and Russians in the West — have become increasingly common since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Last year, the Russian news outlet RBC counted that Western countries and Japan expelled a total 670 Russian diplomats between the start of 2022 and October 2023, while Moscow responded by expelling 346 diplomats. According to RBC, that was more than in the previous 20 years combined.
On his way to visit the US, Starmer said Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia.”
“Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away,” he told reporters.
“Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense — we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia — that’s not our intention in the slightest,” he said.
Ukraine wants approval to use some weapons to strike deeper into Russia and there are signs that President Joe Biden might shift US policy in response.
While the issue is expected to be at the top of the agenda for their meeting, it appeared unlikely that Biden and Starmer would announce any policy changes at this time, according to two US officials familiar with planning for the talks. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the private deliberations.
Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided long-range missiles against targets deeper inside Russia during this week’s visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Blinken said he had “no doubt” that Biden and Starmer would discuss the matter during their visit, noting the US has adapted and “will adjust as necessary” as Russia’s battlefield strategy has changed.


German doctor goes on trial for 15 murders

Updated 7 sec ago
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German doctor goes on trial for 15 murders

  • Palliative care specialist alleged to have killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 while working in Berlin
  • The case recalls that of notorious German nurse Niels Hoegel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 patients
BERLIN: A German doctor went on trial Monday accused of killing 15 patients with lethal injections and acting as “master of life and death” over those in his care.
The 40-year-old palliative care specialist, named by German media as Johannes M., is alleged to have killed 12 women and three men between September 2021 and July 2024 while working in Berlin.
The doctor is accused of injecting the victims, aged between 25 and 94, with deadly cocktails of sedatives and in some cases setting fire to their homes in a bid to cover up his crimes.
The accused had “visited his patients under the pretext of providing medical care,” prosecutor Philipp Meyhoefer said at the opening of the trial at the state court in Berlin.
Johannes M. had organized “home visits, already with the intention of killing” and exploited his patients’ trust in him as a doctor, Meyhoefer said.
“He acted with disregard for life... and behaved as the master of life and death.”
A co-worker first raised the alarm over Johannes M. last July after becoming suspicious that so many of his patients had died in fires, according to Die Zeit newspaper.
He was arrested in August, with prosecutors initially linking him to four deaths.
But subsequent investigations uncovered a host of other suspicious cases, and in April prosecutors charged Johannes M. with 15 counts of murder.
A further 96 cases were still being investigated, a prosecution spokesman said, including the death of Johannes M.’s mother-in-law.
She had been suffering from cancer and mysteriously died the same weekend that Johannes M. and his wife went to visit her in Poland in early 2024, according to media reports.
The suspect reportedly trained as a radiologist and a general practitioner before going on to specialize in palliative care.
According to Die Zeit, he submitted a doctoral thesis in 2013 looking into the motives behind a series of killings in Frankfurt, which opened with the words “Why do people kill?”
In the charges brought against Johannes M., prosecutors said the doctor had “administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to his patients... without their knowledge or consent.”
The relaxant “paralyzed the respiratory muscles, leading to respiratory arrest and death within minutes.”
In five cases, Johannes M. allegedly set fire to the victims’ apartments after administering the injections.
On one occasion, he is accused of murdering two patients on the same day.
On the morning of July 8, 2024, he allegedly killed a 75-year-old man at his home in the Berlin district of Kreuzberg.
“A few hours later” he is said to have struck again, killing a 76-year-old woman in the neighboring Neukoelln district.
Prosecutors say he started a fire in the woman’s apartment, but it went out.
“When he realized this, he allegedly informed a relative of the woman and claimed that he was standing in front of her flat and that nobody was answering the doorbell,” prosecutors said.
In another case, Johannes M. “falsely claimed to have already begun resuscitation efforts” on a 56-year-old victim, who was initially kept alive by rescuers but died three days later in hospital.
Prosecutors said he had “no motive beyond killing” and are seeking a life sentence.
The case recalls that of notorious German nurse Niels Hoegel, who was handed a life sentence in 2019 for murdering 85 patients.
Hoegel, believed to be modern Germany’s most prolific serial killer, murdered hospital patients with lethal injections between 2000 and 2005, before he was eventually caught in the act.
More recently, a 27-year-old nurse was given a life sentence in 2023 for murdering two patients by deliberately administering unprescribed drugs.
In March, another nurse went on trial in Aachen accused of injecting 26 patients with large doses of sedatives or painkillers, resulting in nine deaths.
Last week, German police revealed they are investigating another doctor suspected of killing several mainly elderly patients.
Investigators are “reviewing” deaths linked to the doctor from the town of Pinneberg in northern Germany, just outside Hamburg, police and prosecutors said.

EU climate VP seeks ‘fair competition’ with China on green energy

Updated 6 min 40 sec ago
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EU climate VP seeks ‘fair competition’ with China on green energy

  • Deep frictions exist over economic relations between the 27-nation bloc and Beijing

BEIJING: The European Union is seeking "fair competition" with China and not a race to the bottom in wages and environmental standards, the bloc's vice president for the clean transition told AFP on Monday.
Deep frictions exist over economic relations between the 27-nation bloc and Beijing.
Brussels is worried that a manufacturing glut propelled by massive state subsidies could add to a yawning trade deficit and result in a flood of cheap Chinese goods undercutting European firms.
Speaking during a visit to Beijing ahead of a major EU-China summit in the city this month, Teresa Ribera dismissed China's claims that the bloc was engaging in "protectionism".
"We Europeans don't want to go down a race towards low incomes, lower labour rights or lower environmental standards," said Ribera, who also serves as the bloc's competition chief.
"It is obvious that we could not be in a good position if there could be an ... over-flooding in our markets that could undermine us with prices that do not reflect the real cost," she said.
The EU imposed extra import taxes of up to 35 percent on Chinese electric vehicle imports in October and has investigated Chinese-owned solar panel manufacturers.
Asked whether EU moves against Chinese green energy firms could harm the global transition to renewables, Ribera said: "It is fair to say that, yes, we may benefit in the very short term."
However, she also warned "it could kill the possibility" of long-term investment in the bloc's future.

Ribera's visit comes as Beijing seeks to improve relations with the European Union as a counterweight to superpower rival the United States, whose President Donald Trump has disrupted the global order and pulled Washington out of international climate accords.
"I don't think that we have witnessed many occasions in the past where a big economy, a big country, decides to isolate in such a relevant manner," she told AFP.
"It is a pity.
"The Chinese may think that the United States has given them a great opportunity to be much more relevant in the international arena," Ribera said.
The visit also comes as the bloc and the United States wrangle over a trade deal. Trump threw months of negotiations into disarray on Saturday by announcing he would hammer the bloc with sweeping tariffs if no agreement was reached by August 1.
Ribera vowed on Monday that the EU would "defend the interests of our companies, our society, our business".
Asked if a deal was in sight, she said: "Who knows? We'll do our best."
However, she insisted that EU digital competition rules -- frequently condemned by Trump as "non-tariff barriers" to trade -- were not on the table.
"It's a question of sovereignty," Ribera said.
"We are not going to compromise on the way we understand that we need to defend our citizens and our society, our values and our market."


Father of American man slain by Israeli settlers tells Arab News US officials do not care

Updated 58 min 42 sec ago
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Father of American man slain by Israeli settlers tells Arab News US officials do not care

  • Sayfollah Musallet was beaten to death on his family’s land in the West Bank
  • ‘Where is the outcry from America for an American? We need justice now’

CHICAGO: Kamel Musallet, the father of a 20-year-old American citizen slain by Israeli settlers on Friday, told Arab News that US officials should treat his son’s killing “the same way they’d treat the murder of any American in any country.”

Sayfollah Musallet was beaten to death by settlers on land the family owns outside the Palestinian village of Al-Mazra’a Ash-Sharqiya in the occupied West Bank.

The family are American citizens of Palestinian heritage who have lived in Port Charlotte, Florida, most of their lives.

Sayfollah Musallet, who was born and raised in Florida, went to see family in Al-Mazra’a Ash-Sharqiya when he was confronted by “gangs of settlers” on their nearby land.

Kamel Musallet said he has only received condolences from “someone” at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, but not from any American officials in the US. 

“Where is the concern? My son is an American,” he added, describing him as “a kind person, a good person.”

He said Israeli soldiers prevented family and friends from reaching his son, and medical personnel from treating him.

“He was there, injured, dying, for nearly three hours … The settlers killed him and nothing has been done,” he added.

“Settlers have been going to Palestinian-owned lands randomly attacking any Palestinians they see, trying to steal these lands.

“They’re trying to put tents up on these lands to create new settlements, destroying olive trees and killing farm animals … We’ve asked for protection but have gotten nothing … They’ve been doing this for years.”

He added: “My whole family is American. Who is speaking up in America for our rights, our lives? Where is the outcry from America for an American? We need justice now.”

He said his son had been running an ice cream store that the family opened a year before in Tampa, Florida.

“Sayfollah was such a kind soul, a hard worker. I'm an entrepreneur, so he wanted to be like me … He left a positive impression on everyone he met.”


Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as US pledges Patriot missiles to Ukraine

Updated 14 July 2025
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Trump envoy arrives in Kyiv as US pledges Patriot missiles to Ukraine

  • Donald Trump last week teased that he would make a ‘major statement’ on Russia on Monday
  • US leader made quickly stopping the Russia-UKraine war one of his diplomatic priorities

KYIV: US President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine and Russia, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, arrived in Kyiv on Monday, a senior Ukrainian official said, as anticipation grew over a possible shift in the Trump administration’s policy on the more than three-year war.

Trump last week teased that he would make a “major statement” on Russia on Monday. Trump made quickly stopping the war one of his diplomatic priorities, and he has increasingly expressed frustration about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unbudging stance on U.S-led peace efforts.

Putin “talks nice and then he bombs everybody,” Trump said late Sunday, as he confirmed the US is sending Ukraine badly needed US-made Patriot air defense missiles to help it fend off Russia’s intensifying aerial attacks.

Russia has spread terror in Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kyiv, with hundreds of drones and cruise and ballistic missiles that Ukraine’s air defenses are struggling to counter. June brought the highest monthly civilian casualties of the past three years, with 232 people killed and 1,343 wounded, the UN human rights mission in Ukraine said Thursday. Russia launched 10 times more drones and missiles in June than in the same month last year, it said.

That has happened at the same time as Russia’s bigger army is making a new effort to drive back Ukrainian defenders on parts of the 1,000-kilometer frontline.

A top ally of Trump, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Sunday that the conflict is nearing an inflection point as Trump shows growing interest in helping Ukraine fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. It’s a cause that Trump had previously dismissed as being a waste of US taxpayer money.

“In the coming days, you’ll see weapons flowing at a record level to help Ukraine defend themselves,” Graham said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” He added: “One of the biggest miscalculations (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has made is to play Trump. And you just watch, in the coming days and weeks, there’s going to be a massive effort to get Putin to the table.”

Also, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was due in Washington on Monday and Tuesday. He planned to hold talks with Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as members of Congress.

Talks during Kellogg’s visit to Kyiv will cover “defense, strengthening security, weapons, sanctions, protection of our people and enhancing cooperation between Ukraine and the United States,” said the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andrii Yermak.

“Russia does not want a cease fire. Peace through strength is President Donald Trump’s principle, and we support this approach,” Yermak said.

Russian troops conducted a combined aerial strike at Shostka, in the northern Sumy region of Ukraine, using glide bombs and drones early Monday morning, killing two people, the regional prosecutor’s office said. Four others were injured, including a 7-year-old, it said.

Overnight from Sunday to Monday, Russia fired four S-300/400 missiles and 136 Shahed and decoy drones at Ukraine, the air force said. It said that 61 drones were intercepted and 47 more were either jammed or lost from radars mid-flight.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its air defenses downed 11 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions on the border with Ukraine, as well as over the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea.


Fatal Air India crash probe ‘far from over’ says CEO days after preliminary report

Updated 14 July 2025
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Fatal Air India crash probe ‘far from over’ says CEO days after preliminary report

  • The Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London began to lose thrust and sink shortly after takeoff
  • Air India jetliner crashed after engine fuel cutoff switches flipped almost simultaneously

NEW DELHI: The probe into last month’s Air India Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad city is “far from over,” CEO Campbell Wilson said in an internal memo on Monday, adding that the airline is open to further inquiries and warned against “premature conclusions.”

The memo, seen by Reuters, comes after a preliminary report on Saturday showed confusion in the cockpit shortly before the Air India jetliner crashed and killed 260 people last month, after the plane’s engine fuel cutoff switches flipped almost simultaneously and starved the engines of fuel.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London from the Indian city of Ahmedabad began to lose thrust and sink shortly after takeoff, according to the report on the world’s deadliest aviation accident in a decade released by Indian accident investigators.

The memo said that the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.