Knowledge Management Dept
Hanslope Park
Hanslope
Milton Keynes MK19 7BH
Mr George Nixon
By email to:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 23 September 2019
Dear Mr Nixon,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 REQUEST – REF: 0816-19
We are writing with our reply to your email of 20 August 2019 requesting access, under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), to information held by the FCO. You asked for:
“I would be much obliged to receive the list of names of Soviet personnel expelled in
September 1971 as part of Operation Foot. If the information is still classed as secret, please
indicate when it is due to be declassified.
Information to assist: 90 people were expelled from the UK whilst a further 15, who were
waiting for their visas to be renewed, were also declared persona non grata. Therefore there
should be a total of 105 names of Soviet personnel dismissed from the Soviet embassy in
London, Aeroflot, Intourist, U M O Plant Ltd, the Moscow Narodny Bank, the Russian Wood
Agency, and others. The list was first revealed to the Soviets by Alec Douglas-Home, who
was then serving in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as Foreign Minister in Heath's
Cabinet.”
We emailed you to clarify that we should undertake a search for information on Operation
Foot for 1971 only and on 27 August, you confirmed that this was the case:
“Yes, I am specifically looking at Operation Foot in 1971. 105 Soviet personnel (from the
embassy, trade delegation, intourist, wood company, etc), were reported to have been
declared non grata, I would like at least the names please. Any other information, such as
where they worked, job title, address, etc would also be good to know if, and as far as,
possible.”
We can confirm the FCO holds the information you have requested.
Following a review to consider possible release, we have concluded that the material should
be withheld under FOIA Section 23 (1).
Section 23 (1) states that
information held by a public authority is exempt information if it
was directly or indirectly supplied to the public authority by, or relates to, any of the bodies
specified in subsection (3).
Section 23 is an absolute exemption and therefore we are not required to consider the public
interest in disclosure.
If you would like a review of our decision, or if you wish to make a complaint, please write to
the Central FOI Unit, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Room WH2.177, King Charles
Street, London, SW1A 2AH. E-mail:
xxxxxxx.xxxx@xxx.xxx.xx. You have 40 working days
to do so from the date of this letter.
You can apply directly to the Information Commissioner. However, the Information
Commissioner will not normally make a decision unless you have first exhausted the
complaints procedure provided by the FCO. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Historical FOI Team
Knowledge Management Department
For information about how the FCO handles personal information please see ou
r Personal Information
Charter