Sarah Rainsford: Russia to expel BBC correspondent

Russian state television said Sarah Rainsford was being expelled in response to ”London’s confrontational attitude to Moscow”
Russian state television said Sarah Rainsford was being expelled in response to ”London’s confrontational attitude to Moscow”
ROBERTO RICCIUTI/GETTY IMAGES

A BBC correspondent is being expelled from Moscow in retaliation for alleged discrimination against Russian journalists in the first case of its kind for a decade.

The correspondent has not been officially named, but the state television channel Rossiya-24 channel identified her as Sarah Rainsford.

The BBC and Rainsford did not immediately comment and Russia’s foreign ministry said it would not comment until she had.

A British journalist has not been obliged to leave Moscow since 2011, when The Guardian’s Luke Harding was effectively harassed into departing after problems with extending his visa and government accreditation.

Rossiya-24 said Rainsford would have to leave by August 31, when her visa expires. The expulsion was in response to “London’s confrontational attitude to Moscow”, including unfair treatment of