Russia will give "appropriate response" to Britain's expulsion of defence attache, RIA says

MOSCOW:

Russia

will give an "appropriate response" to Britain's decision to expel the

Russian defence attache

, the

RIA

news agency cited Russian

foreign ministry spokeswoman

Maria Zakharova as saying on Wednesday.
Britain said on Wednesday it would expel Russia's defence attache, remove diplomatic status from some properties and limit the length of Russian diplomatic visas.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said the action followed a pattern of malign activity from Russia across Britain and Europe.
In April, a British man was charged over alleged hostile state activity intended to benefit Russia, including by allegedly recruiting others for an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked commercial property in London.

"We will expel the Russian defence attache, who is an undeclared military intelligence officer," British interior minister James Cleverly told parliament.
"We will remove diplomatic premises status from several Russian-linked properties in the UK ... we are imposing new restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas, including capping the length of time Russian diplomats can spend in the UK."