Putin cronies say UK and US 'have to burn'
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The chamber, called the Federation Council, holds its sessions within a building on Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street in Moscow. The ban extends to Ambassador Deborah Bronnert as well as to other British diplomats.
The chairman of the Federation Council is the third most powerful official in Russia, after PResident Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The escalation in British-Russian tensions follows comments by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Thursday that the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson was of little concern to Moscow.
Peskov bluntly said: “He [Mr Johnson] doesn’t like us, we don’t like him either.”
The Putin ally added: “We would like to hope that some day in Great Britain more professional people who can make decisions through dialogue will come to power.
“But at the moment there is little hope for that.”
Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, dubbed the current political scenario in the UK “the logical result of British arrogance and mediocre policy”.
The former Russian President used the dramatic end to Mr Johnson’s time as leader of the Tories as a warning to the rest of the West.
He wrote on Telegram: “Ukraine’s best friends are departing. We are waiting for news from Germany, Poland and the Baltic states.”
Mr Johnson was the first world leader to visit Kyiv in April and championed weapons shipments to Ukraine which has made him unpopular in Moscow.
The Kremlin’s aim at UK diplomats came after it last month summoned Ambassador Bronnert to voice a strong protest against “offensive” British statements, in particular about alleged Russian “threats to use nuclear weapons”.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it issued the rebuke over “the frankly boorish statements of the British leadership regarding Russia, its leader and official representatives of the authorities, as well as the Russian people”.
It added that Ms Bronnert was handed a memorandum stating that “offensive rhetoric from representatives of the UK authorities is unacceptable.
“In polite society,” the Kremlin argued, “it is customary to apologise for such statements.”
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Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is this week in Bali at a G20 summit with world leaders that largely oppose the war in Ukraine.
Some attendees at the forum on the Indonesian island — those part of the G7 group of richest nations — were so uncomfortable with Lavrov’s presence that they skipped Thursday’s welcome dinner.
While Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who is hosting the event, urged all G20 members to “find a way forward” to address the events rippling across the globe, Western officials were adamant about sitting in the same room as Lavrov.
A senior Washington official said ahead of the summit: “It clearly cannot be business as usual when it comes to Russia’s involvement and engagement in enterprises like the G20.”
Lavrov, who lashed out at an “openly aggressive” West as he met his Chinese counterpart Wang Wi, accused G20 ministers of wasting the chance to tackle global economic issues by focusing, instead, on issuing “frenzied” criticism of the conflict in Ukraine.
Absent from Friday’s meeting was UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who was represented by Tim Barrow, second permanent under-secretary at the foreign office.
Ms Truss cut her Bali trip short after the resignation of Mr Johnson.
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