The Russian authorities accused 6 British diplomats of spying and said they would be expelled, as tensions between Moscow and the West grow during an intensified push by Ukraine to loosen restrictions on using weapons provided by the U.S. and Britain to strike Russia, writes AP NEWS.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said in an online statement that a decision was made to withdraw their accreditations, and Russian state TV quoted an official from the security service known as the FSB as saying they would be expelled.

The move comes as Prime Minister Keir Starmer visits Washington for talks with President Joe Biden that will include Ukraine’s request to use Western-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia. Starmer said on his way to the U.S. that Britain does not “seek any conflict with Russia”: “Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia could end this conflict straight away. Ukraine has the right to self-defense and we’ve obviously been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine’s right to self-defense - we’re providing training capability, as you know. But we don’t seek any conflict with Russia - that’s not our intention in the slightest”.

The FSB said it received documents indicating that the diplomats were sent to Russia by a division of the U.K. Foreign Office “whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country”, and that they were involved in “intelligence-gathering and subversive activities”.

Based on these documents and “in response to numerous unfriendly steps by London”, the Russian Foreign Ministry withdrew the accreditation of the diplomats, the FSB said, without identifying them. It warned that if other diplomats are found to be carrying out “similar actions,” the agency “will demand early termination of their missions” to Russia.