Tue, 19 May 2026
Hunch
Market25 Aug 2026

Does Russia announce the expulsion of a British diplomat on or before 25 November 2026?

BinaryResolves 25 Nov 2026
Hunch22%
Your forecast
  • Yes
  • No
Resolves 25 Nov 2026
How this resolves

Resolves on an announcement by the Russian foreign ministry, or a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office statement on gov.uk confirming it, that one or more British diplomats have been declared persona non grata or expelled, by 23:59 GMT on 25 November 2026. Non-renewal of accreditation without an expulsion does not count. If that source has not published in time, BBC News and Reuters settle it.

The pattern behind it

Too few cases
Four of the last four British firsts in this war produced a public Russian threat within days, and four is the full record since January 2023. In none of the four did a direct military attack on British territory follow; the answer came instead through doctrine changes, sabotage attributed to Russian proxies and rhetoric aimed at British opinion. The pattern predicts noise rather than kinetic retaliation, and it says nothing about how a transfer of design data is answered. Four cases sit below the six Hunch needs before it shows History.

Each of four British firsts since 2023 drew a Russian threat. We looked at every time since 2023 that Britain was the first Western country to take a new step in military support for Ukraine. Each time, Russia publicly threatened Britain by name within 14 days. None of the four was followed by a military attack on British territory.