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Russia Imposes Soviet-Style Restrictions on British Diplomats in Moscow

A convoy of vehicles leaves the British embassy in Moscow, Russia March 23, 2018. (Reuters)
A convoy of vehicles leaves the British embassy in Moscow, Russia March 23, 2018. (Reuters)
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Russia Imposes Soviet-Style Restrictions on British Diplomats in Moscow

A convoy of vehicles leaves the British embassy in Moscow, Russia March 23, 2018. (Reuters)
A convoy of vehicles leaves the British embassy in Moscow, Russia March 23, 2018. (Reuters)

Russia on Thursday imposed Soviet-style restrictions on British diplomats, requiring them to give at least five working days' notice of any plans to travel beyond a 120-km (75-mile) radius, due to what it called London's "hostile actions".

Since President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the West has sent Kyiv tens of billions in military aid and imposed stringent economic sanctions.

Britain is one of the loudest advocates for concerted international opposition to what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, and one of the leading Western suppliers of weaponry to help Ukraine defend itself.

Britain's chargé d'affaires in Russia was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Thursday to be scolded for what Moscow said was support for the "terrorist actions" of Ukraine and for obstructing Russian diplomacy in Britain.

"The British side was also informed of the decision to introduce a notification procedure for the movement of employees of British diplomatic missions on the territory of our country as a response to London's hostile actions," the ministry said.

The restrictions will put British diplomats under the toughest constraints they have experienced in Moscow since Soviet times, when travel by foreigners was severely limited and closely controlled by the KGB security service.

Britain's embassy in Moscow declined to comment.

Russia casts Britain and the United States as perfidious powers which are supporting Ukraine in an attempt to cleave Russia apart and grab its vast natural resources - assertions Washington and London deny.

Moscow has suggested that Britain and the United States were involved in a drone attack on the Crimean Bridge which killed two people on Monday. Moscow has also suggested both powers may have helped blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines connecting Russia and Germany.

Hardship post

British diplomats, with the exception of the ambassador and three other senior diplomats, will be required to send notification of any plans to travel beyond the 120-km (75-mile) "free movement zone" at least five working days ahead.

"Such a document should contain information about the timing, purpose, type of trip, planned business contacts, accompanying persons, type of transport, places of visit and accommodation, as well as the route of the trip," the ministry said.

Diplomatic postings to Moscow are now considered among the most difficult in the world by Western countries. The US State Department ranks Moscow alongside Freetown, Mogadishu, Damascus and Kabul in hardship terms.

Western diplomats in Moscow say intrusive surveillance and harassment are frequent and a guide known as "Moscow Rules" that was developed by Western spies in Soviet times to guard against complacency has been updated for modern Russia.

Russia has long complained that its own diplomats are routinely harassed in major Western capitals.

In May, Russia's ambassador to Washington, Anatoly Antonov, said that embassy employees had been threatened with physical violence, and were frequently badgered in the vicinity of the embassy to work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Central Intelligence Agency.

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Suspected North Korean Hypersonic Missile Exploded, South Korea Says 

Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
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Suspected North Korean Hypersonic Missile Exploded, South Korea Says 

Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)
Contrails believed to be created by a North Korean missile are observed over seas off Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (Yonhap via AP)

A suspected hypersonic missile launched by North Korea exploded in flight on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, a development that comes as North Korea is protesting the regional deployment of a US aircraft carrier for a trilateral military drill with South Korea and Japan.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement that North Korea launched a ballistic missile from its capital region around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. It said the missile was fired toward the North’s eastern waters, but the launch ended in failure.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff later told South Korean journalists that the missile blew up as it flew over the waters of the North's eastern coastal Wonsan city. It said the fragments of the missile were scattered in the waters, up to 250 kilometers (155 miles) away from the launch site. No damages were immediately reported.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff suspected the weapon is a solid-fueled hypersonic missile. It said Wednesday's launch spewed larger amounts of smoke than normal launches because of a possible engine fault. It said the test was probably aimed to improve the capacity of a hypersonic weapons system.

The contents of the background briefing was shared with foreign media.

The US Indo-Pacific Command said it condemns the North's launch though it didn't pose an immediate threat to the US territory or its allies. It said the US commitments to the defense of South Korea and Japan “remain ironclad.”

Japan’s Defense Ministry said earlier Wednesday that it also detected a suspected ballistic missile launch by North Korea.

Since 2021, North Korea has performed a series of hypersonic missile tests in an apparent bid to penetrate its rivals' missile defense shields. But foreign experts question if North Korean hypersonic vehicles have proved their desired speed and maneuverability during test-flights.

In recent years, North Korea has also been pushing to develop more weapons with solid propellants, Such propellants make launches harder to detect than liquid-propellant missiles, which must be fueled before liftoff.

The North’s reported launch also came as the rival Koreas are engaged in Cold War-style, psychological campaigns such as balloon flying and loudspeaker broadcasts in past weeks.

South Korea said Tuesday night that North Korea floated huge balloons carrying trash across the border for a second consecutive day. South Korean media reported Wednesday that about 100 North Korean balloons with bags of waste papers eventually fell on South Korean territory.

North Korea has conducted a series of trash-carrying balloon launches toward South Korea since late May in what it calls a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists flying political leaflets via their own balloons. On June 9, South Korea briefly restarted propaganda broadcasts from its border loudspeakers for the first time in years in response. South Korea's military said Monday said it was ready to turn on its loudspeakers again.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in South Korea on Saturday and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol boarded the carrier on Tuesday — the first sitting South Korean president to board a US aircraft carrier since 1994.

Yoon told American and South Korean troops on the carrier that their countries’ alliance is the world’s greatest and can defeat any enemy. He said the US carrier is to leave Wednesday for the South Korea-US-Japan drill, dubbed “Freedom Edge.” The training is aimed at sharpening the countries’ combined response in various areas of operation, including air, sea and cyberspace.

North Korea’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, on Monday called the US aircraft carrier’s deployment “reckless” and “dangerous.” North Korea has previously called major US-South Korean drills invasion rehearsals and reacted with missile tests.

Seoul officials said the upcoming South Korea-US-Japan training is meant to strengthen the three countries' response capabilities against North Korea's evolving nuclear threats at a time when the North is advancing its military partnerships with Russia.

During a summit in Pyongyang last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a deal requiring each country to provide aid if attacked and vowed to boost other cooperation. Observers say the accord represents the strongest connection between the two countries since the end of the Cold War.

The United States and its partners believe North Korea has been providing Russia with much-needed conventional arms for its war in Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.

North Korea’s reported missile launch is its first weapons demonstrations since Kim Jong Un on May 30 supervised the firing of nuclear-capable multiple rocket launchers to simulate a preemptive attack on South Korea. The drill came days after North Korea’s attempt to put its second spy satellite into orbit ended in failure, with its rocket carrying that satellite exploding in mid-air soon after liftoff.

Since 2022, North Korea has sharply increased the pace of weapons tests to increase its nuclear attack capabilities to cope with what it calls a deepening US military threat. Foreign experts say North Korea eventually aims to use its larger nuclear arsenal to wrest greater concessions from the US when diplomacy resumes.