AFTER days of tense negotiations, Britain and Russia last night expelled four of each other's embassy staff in a dispute about spying that has, at least temporarily, cast an unseasonable Cold War frost over the relationship between London and Moscow.
But they were able to limit the damage after Russia backed off its initial plan to expel nine diplomats in an dispute which began after the arrest of a Russian allegedly working for MI6 in Moscow.
In London the Foreign Office which throughout threatened to retaliate if Russia went ahead with expulsions, finally acted after Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Sergei Krylov, told Britain's ambassador to Moscow, Sir Andrew Wood, that four embassy staff had to be withdrawn in the next few days.
Yesterday afternoon the Foreign Office Minister, Sir Nicholas Bonsor, summoned the Russian ambassador in London, Mr Anatoly Adamishin, and handed him the names of four Russian embassy staff Britain wants to be withdrawn within a fortnight.
Sir Nicholas told the ambassador the four had been involved in gathering key intelligence in scientific and technological developments, as well as in the political and economic fields. "We are acting in direct retaliation to the Russian action," said a spokesman for the Foreign Office.
That it took 11 days to announce the expulsions suggests the two sides have worked out an agreement, and that there will be no outbreak of spiralling tit for tat expulsions that characterised Cold War espionage disputes.
In 1989, both sides threw out 11 journalists and diplomats in a similar spying fracas.
Yesterday the Foreign Office said it hoped this "would be the end of the matter," saying Britain wanted to maintain a "co operative relationship" with Russia. Last night it did not divulge the names of the expelled officials. But British sources made it clear that Whitehall would retaliate once again if Moscow responded by expelling others.