MOSCOW, September 10. /TASS/. The consequences of a potential provocation by Ukrainian special services against British diplomats in Moscow could have been severe, Vladimir Nechayev, a veteran of the Soviet Unions’ KGB counterintelligence service has said.

"Ukrainian special services are overdoing it; in this instance, they aimed the spearhead of the entire operation at the British diplomatic mission. Had it succeeded, it could have led to very serious consequences, potentially even escalating to a military conflict between Russia and the UK," he said in a video released by the FSB.

Nechayev explained that the essence of the Ukrainian special services' scheme involved gathering personal data - ranging from the British ambassador in Moscow down to every other staff member of the country's diplomatic mission in Russia - via a security guard at the British embassy.

"The transfer of such highly detailed information could have resulted in dire consequences, including terrorist attacks and physical or psychological harm to these individuals. Naturally, following a well-worn script, Ukraine planned to subsequently target accusations against the Russian side. It was yet another crude provocation - and a clumsily fabricated one," Nechayev noted.

Earlier, the FSB announced the detention of a former security guard at the British embassy in Moscow who turned out to be an SBU agent; he had been gathering information on British diplomats on the instructions of Ukrainian blogger Dmitry Karpenko (using the alias Apostol Dmitry). Ukrainian special services planned to use this information to prepare terrorist attacks against the ambassador and other British diplomats, intending to subsequently blame Moscow and draw Britain into a direct armed conflict with Russia.