Russia said on ‍Thursday that a British diplomat was ‍being expelled after being identified as a British spy by the Federal Security Service.

Axar.az informs, citing TASS, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) confirmed the expulsion of Gareth Samuel Davis, a British intelligence officer who had been operating covertly at the UK embassy.

Davis, who served as second secretary in the embassy’s administrative and economic department, has had his accreditation revoked and must leave Russia within two weeks.

The UK’s chargé d’affaires in Moscow, Dani Dolakia, was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where she was handed a formal protest over the actions of a British intelligence officer working under cover.

According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the protest was issued because of Davis’s ties to British intelligence. Moscow stressed that it will not tolerate undeclared foreign intelligence activity on its soil and will respond in kind if London escalates the situation.