Britain’s government has evoked the accreditation of a Russian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move after Moscow expelled a British official last year on spying allegations

Britain said on Thursday it would revoke the accreditation of a Russian diplomat, in retaliation to a similar move made by Moscow last year. Russia said in November that it was expelling a British diplomat for spying.

The Foreign Office said the move was in response to an ‘unprovoked and baseless’ decision to expel a member of staff from the UK embassy in Moscow.