Earlier today, Russia announced that it would impose travel restrictions on British diplomats. Under the rules, which Moscow says were introduced in response to “hostile actions” by the British kingdom, they must now give five days’ notice before traveling to more than 120 countries.

Britain’s chargé d’affaires in Russia has been summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be prosecuted for, according to Moscow, supporting Ukraine’s “terrorist actions” and obstructing Russian diplomacy in the UK.

“Also, the British side was informed of the decision to introduce a notification procedure for the transfer of employees of British diplomatic missions on the territory of Russia “in response to London’s hostile actions,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said, according to Reuters.

British diplomats, apart from the ambassador and three other senior diplomats, will be required to give at least five working days’ notice of any plans to travel outside the 120km “free movement zone”.

“Such a document should contain information about the time, purpose, type of trip, planned business contacts, accompanying persons, mode of transport, places of visit and residence, as well as the route of the trip,” added Moscow.

But what impact will these restrictions have?

The former British ambassador to Russia, Sir Anthony Russell Brenton, told Sky News that life for diplomats living in Moscow was already “pretty difficult”.

“Being able to get out of this place is one of the few attractions left, so to have that on top of everything else is just another obstacle and an added annoyance,” he said.

“I don’t think the point is really to make life difficult for British diplomats … the point is to send a message that they see us as one of the very tough ones on the western side,” Brenton says.

Calling MI6

He explained that Russia had accused Britain of involvement in the bombing of a bridge in Crimea and it was “shocking” that the rules were passed after MI6 encouraged Russians to spy for Britain.

The head of MI6, Britain’s foreign intelligence service, said on Wednesday that last month’s uprising by Russian mercenaries showed the existence of “deep divisions” around the Kremlin and invited Russians frightened by the war in Ukraine to come and spy for Britain, admitting on the other hand that artificial intelligence cannot replace the work of spies, reports the international press.

In only his second public speech since becoming head of MI6 in 2020, Richard Moore said there was little chance of Russia resuming its strike power in Ukraine.

Public talk about espionage is news to British intelligence agencies. The government in London refused to even acknowledge the existence of MI6 until 1992, and public appearances by its leaders are rare. Moore’s only other public speech since becoming head of MI6 was almost three years ago.

Sir Tony Brenton added that he hoped the UK Foreign Office would “react strongly” to the rules and impose similar restrictions on Russian diplomats based here.

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