Ukrinform reported this, citing The Guardian.

The newspaper noted that Andrey Kelin’s name no longer appears in the “Diplomatic List” section of the Russian Embassy’s website in the UK. The list of “senior diplomatic staff” currently includes only Chargé d’Affaires Vasily Tsiganov.

Kelin reportedly left his post last month after seven years in office, with no announcement made regarding his successor.

Since then, tensions between the Kremlin and London have increased. Last week, the Russian Embassy warned of “consequences” after it emerged that the United Kingdom was supplying Kyiv with attack drones.

John Foreman, a former British military attaché in Moscow and Kyiv, noted that a gap between the appointments of ambassadors is not unusual. However, he added: “The embassy’s strident ‘consequences’ statement this week and the huge deterioration of bilateral relations since 2018 and especially since the start of the war make me wonder if Moscow will permanently downgrade the relationship this time, by default by not replacing him.”

A spokesperson for the Russian Embassy told The Sunday Times that Kelin had sought to maintain channels of communication with the United Kingdom and accused the British government of choosing a “path of confrontation” with Russia. According to the spokesperson, the Kremlin has not yet nominated a replacement.

A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office said the matter was for Russia’s Foreign Ministry to address. “ “We have an ambassador and embassy in Moscow to engage and raise concerns with the Russian government. We continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, which has the right to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion”, he stressed.

In recent years, Kelin systematically echoed Kremlin talking points in interviews with British media. In a June interview with Sky News, he claimed that Russia supposedly “cannot lose” the war in Ukraine.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, following yet another Russian threat against the United Kingdom over the transfer of drones to Ukraine, London said it would continue supplying Kyiv with weapons so that it could defend itself.