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Russia pulls ambassador out of Britain
Russia pulls ambassador out of Britain Andrey Kelin was withdrawn with no successor in place by Moscow, which has accused UK of following ‘path of confrontation’ Andrei Kelin, Russian ambassador to the UK, seated in a black leather armchair at the Russian residency in London.
Andrey Kelin had been ambassador since 2019
By Dominic Hauschild Dominic Hauschild
The Kremlin has withdrawn its ambassador to the UK as it attempts to force Britain to reconsider its support for Ukraine.
Andrey Kelin, who served as the Russian ambassador to the UK for over seven years, left his diplomatic posting on July 21.
Moscow has not submitted any candidates to the Foreign Office to replace him and embassy staff are understood to have no indication of when a successor might be appointed.
There are concerns the lack of a replacement has effectively downgraded diplomatic relations between the two countries, prompting fears of a complete breakdown in communication between Moscow and London
The relationship between the UK and Russia deteriorated further last week after it emerged that British drones had been used by Ukraineto attack targets on the Russian mainland, prompting the embassy in London to threaten unspecified “consequences”.
A spokesman for the Russian embassy said Kelin had made “considerable efforts to preserve contacts and channels of communication” with the UK and accused the government of choosing a “path of confrontation” with Russia.
“He left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country,” the spokesman said, adding the Kremlin had not yet put forward a replacement candidate. “In the meantime, the embassy is headed by the chargé d’affaires.”
It is unclear whether Moscow intends to leave the embassy in the hands of this lower-ranking diplomat on a permanent basis, but the delay could suggest Russia believes that the UK no longer deserves top-level political representation.
Downgrading a diplomatic relationship by withdrawing an ambassador is one formal way for a government to express severe displeasure or protest without severing ties entirely. Although such a move is typically announced publicly, a relationship can also be downgraded by default if a state fails to appoint a replacement.
Kelin’s departure was announced internally a month earlier on June 11, during a party at the embassy marking Russia Day. On the same day, in Moscow, the British ambassador, Nigel Casey, alongside French and German representatives, held rare talks with the Russian deputy foreign minister to denounce the Kremlin’s aggression in Ukraine.
It is not clear why Kelin left his post, having spent seven years as ambassador, including the past four years of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. During his time at the embassy, Kelin made headlines with statements promoting pro-Kremlin propaganda. In March, he denied a report by the UK Foreign Office and other European allies that poison from a dart frog had been used to kill the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Last year, he rejected the findings of an official investigation into the death of Dawn Sturgess, who was killed after the Salisbury poisoning attack in 2018. The report concluded that Putin “must have” authorised the use of a nerve agent in the attack, which also almost killed Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter.
REX/SHUTTERSTOCKKelin insisted the novichok poisonings had been staged by the British government and secret services. After the attack, the UK closed its consulate in St Petersburg in protest.
Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian history and security matters who is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times, said the delay in replacing Kelin as ambassador could also be a sign that the position is now seen as less desirable in Moscow.
“Having once been a plum job, it is now a tough post where it is hard to make your mark,” he said. “The kind of candidates with the weight and seniority the post requires might be less willing to take it.” The diplomatic freeze coincides with a breakdown in military back-channel communications. The Times reported this month that Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the chief of the defence staff, had been repeatedly rebuffed in his attempts to speak to his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov.
Since Russia’s threats against the UK last week over the use of British-made drones for deep strikes in the country, including from Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, a defence source said there had been no back-channel communications between military representatives.
A senior diplomatic source said the breakdown in dialogue was extremely worrying. “It’s important to maintain those channels of communication, especially between hostile states. Communication and de-escalation is the only tool to avoid potentially dangerous scenarios from turning catastrophic,” the source said.
A national security source warned the move could be a deliberate signal from Moscow after fury in the Kremlin over Britain’s leading role in supporting Ukraine. “They are basically saying ‘you guys don’t matter’ and that, frankly, London and the UK don’t count for anything any more,” the source said.
Russia has previously threatened to downgrade its relationship with the UK. In June 2024, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told reporters: “The issue of lowering the level of diplomatic relations is a standard practice for states that face unfriendly or hostile manifestations.”
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, diplomatic relations with Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia were also downgraded.
John Foreman, the former British military attaché in Moscow, said a gap between ambassadors was not unprecedented.
“But the embassy’s strident statement this week and the huge deterioration of bilateral relations since 2019 and since the start of the war in Ukraine make me wonder if they will permanently downgrade the relationship this time.”