A British diplomat has been forced to resign after apparently being caught on film in a classic Cold War-style sex sting with two Russian prostitutes.

James Hudson, who is divorced with a child, stood down from his post as Deputy Consul General in Yekaterinburg, in Russia’s industrial heartland, after a video apparently showing him having sex with two blonde prostitutes was posted on the internet.

A link to the video clip — lasting 4 minutes and 18 seconds — was posted on a Russian news website under the title “Adventures of Mr Hudson in Russia”.

It shows a portly man wearing glasses walking naked into a room, then in a dressing gown with a champagne glass in hand. To a background of loud music, he embraces and kisses a blonde woman before opening a bottle of champagne.

He is then shown sprawled on the sofa alongside one woman, whom he kisses, while another lies back across his lap in her lingerie. The video then cuts to explicit scenes of all three having sex.

Officials suspect that the scenes — filmed in a Yekaterinburg brothel — may have been captured either to blackmail Mr Hudson or to embarrass Britain. The most likely culprits are agents from the FSB — the successor to the KGB.

Russian intelligence has a long history of staging such sex stings, or honeytraps, to discredit Russian and foreign individuals.

Boris Yeltsin, the former President, was forced to order an inquiry into the airing of a similar video on state television in 1999 allegedly featuring the Prosecutor-General, Yuri Skuratov, in bed with two prostitutes.

Mr Skuratov had instigated corruption investigations into several prominent figures, and the video was screened soon after he had received a vote of confidence in parliament.

Mr Yeltsin had to deflect accusations that the video was a state-sponsored attempt to discredit the Prosecutor-General.

The appearance of the video allegedly featuring Mr Hudson on a mainstream news portal suggested at least tacit official approval, but it was unclear what specific grievance any blackmailer might have had.

The British Consulate said that it had seen the video but refused to comment further. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that Mr Hudson had resigned, but refused to comment on whether it was him in the video.

Mr Hudson, a father of one who divorced in 1997 after a year of marriage, has now returned to Britain.

The FCO said: “The FCO expects all its staff to demonstrate high levels of personal and professional integrity and takes all allegations of inappropriate behaviour seriously.

“That said, we are not in a position to confirm or deny the allegations in this story, and we do not generally comment on individual members of staff or individual personnel matters.”

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