A former member of the UK’s intelligence Security Service also known as MI5 has warned that London is a “high priority” for Vladimir Putin amid the financial Russian links there is to the city.
Having London full of “Russian intelligence assets” is part of Putin’s “playbook” which is a tactic previously used by the KGB during the USSR in the Cold War.
The i newspaper has revealed a suspected agent for the Russian security service, FSB is freely living a luxurious life in London, despite the capital being a key target for Moscow as it is the centre of the UK’s financial sectors.
A former MI5 officer warned London is a “high priority” for hostile Russian agents and assets due to certain sector types working within the capital.
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Russian freely living in UK who has Kremlin ‘intelligence service connections’ causes anger among intelligence officials
The officer told the i, “London is full of Russian intelligence assets targeting security companies, organisations, the MoD, politicians and more.
“London is a high priority because of the financial Russian links to the city and the UK’s position politically.”
Another former intelligence officer said, “Putin is very much a KGB mindset and this would be in that playbook.
“The UK has previously had such Russian ‘illegals’ discovered.”
This comes there is a Russian who is freely living in the UK who has Kremlin “intelligence service connections” and should not be allowed to remain in Britain.
The alleged Russian spy was given refugee status in February 2022 at the time the British government was facing “inexplicable pressure” to clear applications as quickly as possible when Boris Johnson was the Prime Minister.
The Russian has been under a four year investigation by US agencies over allegations or “cyber threats, domestic terrorism and malign foreign influence” which has caused fury within the FBI.
FBI officials have demanded that the British government provide an explanation as to why the Russian is being allowed to live in the UK despite having connections in the highest ranks within Moscow.
One security source said, the alleged agent, “shouldn’t be a free man. He has Russian intelligence service connections.”
An FBI officer, who is part of the force’s kleptocrat team, said this “rubbed salt in the wound” upon hearing the news of his comfortable London life, saying he “shouldn’t be a free man.”
A source told the i newspaper, “He has been written about in numerous intelligence reports and is considered a threat to Ukraine and the US and implicated in money laundering on behalf of sanctioned entities, engagement in transnational criminal activities and attempted influence over US politicians.”
