Kateryna Chornovol01:57, 17.01.25

A small group of Russian diplomats are known to have joined a public tour of the chambers of parliament.

Russian diplomats were able to gain access to the private area of ​​the British Parliament. As far as we know, this happened on the eve of Christmas – at the end of 2024.

The Guardian reports on this. The incident has alarmed security officials and prompted private warnings from the speakers of both houses of the British parliament.

It is understood that a small group of Russian diplomats joined a public tour of the Houses of Parliament. They broke away from the rest of the tour to enter a section of the House of Lords that was off-limits to the public. They were discovered by security and ejected.

“We suspect they simply wanted to boast to the Kremlin that they had broken into the British parliament. It’s not ideal, but they were caught before any damage was done,” says a parliamentary source.

However, British government ministers were concerned about the incident. Members of Parliament and their colleagues were given written warnings not to invite Russian diplomats to Parliament.

The Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and the Speaker of the House of Lords, Lord McFall of Alcluit, have also privately reminded MPs and Persians to be wary of Russian attempts to penetrate parliamentary security. In separate letters, the speakers wrote:

“As the officially accredited representative of the Russian government, the Russian ambassador should not be welcomed within the walls of the House of Commons until further notice. This applies to all other Russian diplomats and Russian embassy staff accredited to the UK.”

It is noted that the Russian ambassador, diplomats and employees of the Russian embassy in London are prohibited from visiting the British Parliament from 2022.

(C)UNIAN 2025