Police in the United Kingdom have arrested three men on suspicion of assisting Russia’s foreign intelligence service, as tensions between a key ally of Ukraine in the war and Moscow continue to simmer.
The Metropolitan Police said on Thursday the men – aged 44, 45 and 48 – were arrested from west and central London under the 2023 National Security Act “on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service”.
They said the country in question is Russia, according to The Associated Press news agency.
Those addresses, along with another, are currently being searched, with counterterrorism police leading the investigation, they said.
British authorities allege that Russia is conducting an increasingly bold campaign of espionage, sabotage and cyber-interference against the United Kingdom.
“We’re seeing an increasing number of who we would describe as ‘proxies’ being recruited by foreign intelligence services, and these arrests are directly related to our ongoing efforts to disrupt this type of activity,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of counterterrorism policing in London.
The developments came as six men were being sentenced for their part in an arson attack on Ukraine-linked businesses in east London last year. Prosecutors said it had been ordered by the Russian mercenary group Wagner.
The ringleader, Dylan Earl, was the first person convicted under the National Security Act, which gives prosecutors powers to put spying suspects on trial in a wider set of circumstances.
Last week, the head of the UK’s MI5 security service, Ken McCallum, alleged that Russia “is committed to causing havoc and destruction”.
“In the last year, we and the police have disrupted a steady stream of surveillance plots with hostile intent aimed at individuals [whom] Russian leaders perceive as their enemies,” he said.
The Kremlin has denied accusations that it is involved in any such acts of sabotage, saying the British government repeatedly blames Russia for anything “bad” that happens in the UK.
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