On Wednesday, September 17, three people were arrested near London on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence.
A 41-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were detained at an address in Grays, Essex. Another 46-year-old man was arrested at a separate address in the same area. The suspects were transferred to a police station in London for questioning. Authorities confirmed that the investigation remains ongoing, while the three individuals have been released on bail.
Head of UK counterterrorism Commander Dominic Murphy cited the problem now posed by Russia’s military intelligence agency, the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU), claiming
Britain is seeing an increasing number of proxies recruited by foreign intelligence agencies. … Especially, the GRU is on a sustained mission to cause disruption on British and European streets. We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more.
It is as yet unclear which, if any, of these activities the Essex-based trio are alleged to have been involved in.
The arrests in England took place on the same day that Lithuanian authorities announced that a Moscow-backed network had planned a series of arson attacks across Europe. Similar reports emerged from Latvia.
In June this year, a fire at a German military depot was linked to Russian-backed sabotage.
