Diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK completely broken

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that allowing long-range strikes would mean that Nato countries, the US, and European countries are “at war with Russia”. Credit: AP

Diplomatic relations between Russia and the UK are rock bottom according to a Chatham House expert, John Lough.

He described to me just how terrible the situation had become after the Foreign Office summoned the Russian ambassador for a telling off.

Andrei Kelin was told that Britain condemned a "malicious and deliberate public campaign of aggressions against the UK" and accused Moscow of "malicious and completely baseless accusations" against its staff. Last week, Russia revealed that it had expelled six British diplomats amid accusations of spying.

Sources suggested to me that Russia often conflated legitimate diplomatic activity with spying in order to discourage charities, journalists and opposition politicians from engaging with western embassies.

But this is also tit for tat after Britain expelled the Russian defence attache accusing him of spying, and limited diplomatic visas to five years.

All of which comes as tensions rise over the use of storm shadow missiles, with Ukraine urging the UK to let it use British missiles to strike directly into Russian territory.

Lough said this period marked a total breakdown in diplomatic relations - saying in Russia they talk of the "Anglo-Saxons" in a degrogatory way meaning countries like the UK and US as they see as particularly hostile.

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