Moscow hits out at the BBC for ‘depicting Britain as a playground for Russian gangsters' in hit series McMafia

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The Russian embassy has hit out at the BBC for propagating negative 'cliches' of its citizens in the hit series McMafia.

The new eight-part series, which first aired Christmas Day, portrays a world where Russians move in a world rife with criminal activity - but the embassy moved quickly to point out the difference between fact and fiction.

Taking to Twitter, the UK-based embassy said the drama 'depicts Britain as a playground for Russian gangsters' and asked followers to answer a poll to guess how many Russian offenders are currently in UK prisons.

Fifty-nine per cent of voters guessed the embassy's correct answer of 'fewer than 10'.

The Russian embassy has hit out at the BBC for propagating negative 'cliches' of its countrymen in the hit series McMafia

Following the result, the embassy tweeted: 'Crime rate among Russians in UK is well below national average. Good that our followers are not buying into the cliches BBC is spreading.'

Ministry of Justice figures from September last year show there are 35 people of Russian nationality imprisoned in England and Wales, comprised of 34 men and one women.

This had dropped from 51 inmates at the end of 2016.

The figure is significantly lower than many other European countries, including Poland, which has 891 citizens locked up in the UK, Lithuania, which has 424, and Portugal's 245. 

Yet the figure is higher than other nations, including Greece and Belgium.

The latest figures provided by the MOJ show there are 75,739 British nationals and 9,946 foreign citizens imprisoned in UK prisons.

When quizzed about the difference between the MOJ's figures and its own, the embassy told the Sunday Telegraph: 'We base our data on the notifications that the British authorities send us pursuant to their international legal obligations.

'We also double check these notifications since the persons recorded as "Russians" are often not Russian nationals.'

McMafia follows the life of a privately educated businessman called Alex Godman, played by British actor James Norton, who is dragged into the criminal underworld following the murder of his uncle. 

The show has also been criticised in a Facebook post by UK Lawyers for Israel, who claim the show made 'gratuitous slurs against Israeli businessmen and makes references to Israel which aren't mentioned in the original book' and that the programme 'distorts the motto of Mossad'.

The Israeli intelligence organisation's slogan in the show is quoted as 'by deception we will do war', but the actual motto comes from Proverbs, 24.6 and is 'For by wise guidance you can wage your war', the group claimed.

The UK-based embassy said the drama 'depicts Britain as a playground for Russian gangsters' and asked followers to answer a poll to guess how many Russian offenders are currently in UK prisons