To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many diplomats Russia was authorised to have in the United Kingdom or accredited to the Court of St James on 13 July; and how many there will be following the decision, announced on 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 22, to expel diplomats. (151252)

Seventy-seven Russians are currently notified to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) as being posted to the UK with diplomatic rank and are registered on the FCO Protocol database. I refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary on 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 27-22, in which he informed the House that four of these individuals have been asked to leave.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will undertake to make a written statement to the House should the number of authorised Russian diplomats in London vary from the levels permitted following the decision to expel four Russian diplomats which he announced on 16 July 2007, Official Report, column 22. (151253)

I refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to him today (UIN 151252). I would also remind my hon. Friend that I provided an undertaking to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee that I would inform Parliament of any changes to the measures set out in my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary's statement to the House on 16 July 2007, Official Report, columns 21-22.