On January 15, 2026, Russia’s Federal Security Service announced that it had uncovered an undeclared British secret service agent operating under cover of a position at the British Embassy in Moscow.
According to the FSB Public Relations Center, counterintelligence operations identified Davis Gareth Samuel, born in 1980. Officially, he held the position of second secretary of the administrative and economic department of the British Embassy, but, according to Russian special services, he was an employee of the British special services who was not declared in the established manner.
The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the British chargé d’affaires in Moscow, Deini Dolakia, and handed her a strong protest. Davis Gareth Samuel’s accreditation has been revoked, and he has been ordered to leave the Russian Federation within two weeks.
So far, there has been no official comment from the British government or the British Embassy in Moscow. In the past, the British side has repeatedly called similar accusations from Moscow unfounded and politically motivated.
The incident comes amid the ongoing serious cooling of Russian-British relations, which has been observed since 2022. This is not the first case of mutual accusations of espionage and expulsions of diplomats in recent years.