PHOTO: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London August 18, 2014.
Britain will make a formal protest to the Ecuadorian government over its decision to provide asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
It comes as Swedish prosecutors dropped investigations into allegations of sexual assault against Assange after they ran out of time to bring charges.
Assange has been holed up at Ecuador's London embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden.
In a statement, British foreign office minister Hugo Swire said Ecuador had helped Assange circumvent the law.
"Ecuador must recognise that its decision to harbour Mr Assange more than three years ago has prevented the proper course of justice," he said.
Swedish prosecutors dropped two of four allegations made in 2010 after reaching their statute of limitations of five years.
The accusations dropped involve one count of sexual assault and another of unlawful coercion. A separate allegation of sexual molestation will run out on August 18.
Swedish prosecutors said they would push on with an investigation into an allegation of rape made in 2010 against Assange as the alleged offence carries a 10-year statute of limitations and expires in 2020.
Under Swedish law, if a suspect is not questioned before the deadline expires, they can no longer be tried for the alleged crimes.
Assange has always denied the allegations brought by two Swedish women and insists the sexual encounters were consensual.
Ecuador said on Thursday that Sweden and Britain's "inaction" was to blame for the expiration of the Swedish sexual assault probe of Assange.
Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement "the continued inaction by British and Swedish authorities for the nearly 1,000 days of (Assange's) stay in the embassy" was the reason he had not been questioned by Swedish prosecutors.
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