Russia softens threat to expel diplomats

Moscow's hardline Federal Security Service yesterday appeared to back off a demand that nine British diplomats be expelled for running a spying operation, but it insisted some officials would have to go.

The softening of tone came as the British ambassador to Moscow, Sir Andrew Wood, met Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Krylov, in a further attempt at compromise in a row which is both about espionage and the delicate task of saving face. The Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Portillo, suggested yesterday that Russia may drop its threat to expel the diplomats.

"We hope that continuing discussions will produce an amicable conclusion to this regrettable incident," he said. At a meeting on Tuesday between Sir Andrew and Russia's Foreign Minister, Yevgeny Primakov, "it wasn't clear whether these expulsions will proceed or not", Mr Portillo said.

On Tuesday the Federal Security Service (FSB) said it wanted to expel nine British diplomats whom they accused of being "career spies" with links to a young Russian government worker who was allegedly caught supplying MI6 with sensitive political, defence and strategic information.

The agency's approach contrasted markedly with that of the Russian Foreign Ministry, which declined to confirm that any diplomats would be expelled and emphasised the need to continue good relations with London. Yesterday, however, the FSB moderated its stance. "The question of expelling a number of British embassy staff is on the agenda," a spokesman told Interfax news agency. "At issue is the time-scale and the number of diplomats who will be declared persona non grata."

Behind the scenes, the FSB was still claiming the credit for a successful spy catching operation, unmoved by Britain's protests that it has failed to back its allegations with evidence. An FSB spokesman told Interfax: "We did our job. The job of the politicians is to find a solution which most adequately meets the national interests of the Russian Federation."

Sources close to the agency told journalists the FSB had been determined to stop a surge in espionage which followed the end of the Cold War, and which was fuelled by a rush to earn money by Russians in sensitive but badly-paid jobs. This was primarily a matter of counter espionage, rather than international, or domestic politics.

While the scandal may have eased slightly, speculation about what went on behind the scenes has not and the episode raises questions about the difficult relationship between the security services and the Kremlin.

It seems inconceivable that a decision as momentous as expelling nine diplomats, more than a tenth of the British mission in Moscow, would not have the approval of Boris Yeltsin and his inner circle, who may have viewed it as a way to curry favour with the nationalists before next month's presidential elections.

Yet the FSB has not seen eye to eye with the President recently, particularly over his attempts to settle the conflict in Chechnya. They were incensed last month when some 90 Russian federal troops were wiped out in a rebel Chechen ambush. There are signs that its forces in Chechnya are outside the control of the Kremlin, and that security officials have been withholding information from the President.

A proportion of the FSB, a successor organisation to the KGB, are hardline Communists who would like nothing better than a return to the influence they enjoyed in Soviet times (although they remain powerful). The decision to leak plans to throw out nine Britons may have had as much to do with a desire to confuse and distract Mr Yeltsin and the Kremlin during their feverish election campaign as with efforts to punish Britain.

A Russian MP, Konstantin Borovoi, yesterday described the row as a "put- up job", which was intended to damage the Yeltsin camp.

Russia expelled an Estonian diplomat yesterday for "activities incompatible with his diplomatic status" - a standard reference to spying, AP reports. The Estonian was kicked out in retaliation for the expulsion of a Russian Embassy official from Tallinn, Russian Foreign Ministry officials said.