MOSCOW: Russia said Thursday it was expelling a British diplomat, calling him an undercover spy in an accusation blasted by London as “malicious” and “baseless.” The Kremlin has long singled out Britain as one of the most hostile Western states — with relations virtually frozen even before Moscow’s full-scale offensive on Ukraine. The two countries have expelled each others’ embassy staff several times in recent years. Moscow-London ties have been plagued by spy allegations for decades and were already at their lowest point before Russia’s 2022 Ukraine attack. Since then, Britain became one of Kyiv’s strongest backers. Russia’s FSB security service named the man it was expelling as Gareth Samuel Davies — listed on Moscow’s official database of accredited diplomats as the embassy’s second secretary.