Russian state TV: BBC correspondent’s visa renewal refused

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia has refused to renew a visa for a BBC journalist in Moscow — an effective expulsion amid simmering tensions between the two countries. Russia’s state Rossiya 24 TV station said late Thursday that BBC correspondent Sarah Rainsford will have to leave Russia before the end of the month when her visa expires. It said the Foreign Ministry’s decision not to extend Rainsford’s visa came in retaliation to British refusal to grant or extend visas to Russian journalists. Rainsford wouldn’t comment on the situation. Russia’s relations with the West have sunk to the lowest levels since the Cold War, following Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula, accusations of Russian interference with elections, hacking attacks and other tensions.