Russian diplomats secretly enter closed area of British Parliament during tour - Guardian
Kyiv • UNN
A group of Russian diplomats entered the restricted area of the House of Lords during a public tour in December 2024. Security guards detected the offenders, after which all Russian diplomats were banned from the parliament.
During a public tour, Russian diplomats briefly entered the closed area of the British Parliament in December 2024. This was reported by the Guardian, according to UNN.
Details
According to the newspaper, the incident occurred during a public tour of the British Parliament, which was attended by a "small group" of diplomats from the Russian Embassy.
At some point, the Russians broke away from the tour and entered the restricted area of the House of Lords. The security guards found them there and kicked them out.
We suspect that they just wanted to show off to the Kremlin that they had broken into the British Parliament. The situation is not ideal, but they were caught before any damage was done,
At the same time, after the incident, members of parliament and their colleagues received a written warning from the speakers of both chambers not to invite Russian diplomats to parliament.
As an officially accredited representative of the Russian government, the Russian ambassador should not be welcomed into Parliament until further notice. This applies to all other Russian diplomats and Russian embassy staff accredited in the UK,
The Russian ambassador, diplomats and staff of the Russian Embassy in London have been banned from visiting the British Parliament since 2022, when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
To recap
Last year, the United Kingdom expelled the Russian defense attaché, revoked the diplomatic status of some Russian facilities, and restricted Russian diplomatic visas in response to Moscow's "malicious activities" and illegal war in Ukraine.
