Russian diplomats gained access to a restricted area of the British Parliament, according to The Guardian.

Several Russian diplomats managed to infiltrate the restricted area of the British Parliament during a tour. They were expelled by security.

This was reported by RBK-Ukraine citing The Guardian.

According to The Guardian, the incident occurred just before Christmas at the end of last year. A small group of diplomats joined a public tour of the Parliament buildings. They then separated from the main group and found themselves in the House of Lords chamber.

Security caught the Russian diplomats and expelled them, explaining that tours are not conducted in the restricted area of Parliament.

"We suspect they simply wanted to inform the Kremlin that they had entered the British Parliament. It’s not ideal, but they were caught before any damage was done," a source in Parliament reported.

The British government took the incident seriously. A letter was sent to MPs in both houses warning them not to invite Russian diplomats into Parliament, even privately.

Since 2022, the Russian ambassador, diplomats, and embassy officials in London have been prohibited from visiting Parliament after Moscow imposed sanctions on many British MPs and diplomats following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian Spies

It is worth noting that Russia uses its embassies and diplomats as agents for espionage and gathering classified information. Many EU countries expelled Russian diplomats on suspicion of spying following the onset of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

For example, after the liberation of Bucha in the Kyiv region, where Russians committed extensive atrocities, Germany expelled 40 Russian diplomats.

As reported by Reuters, the European Union proposed to restrict the movement of Russian diplomats.