A British man has been charged over an arson plot targeting a Ukrainian business after allegedly being recruited to act for the mercenary Wagner Group.
The suspect will face trial under the UK’s new National Security Act, in the first case brought under new legislation to crack down on foreign agents. Four other men have also been charged in connection with the arson plot.
it seems there are few parts of Europe that are not targets. Earlier in April, Germany arrested two individuals on suspicion of planning attacks on behalf of Russia, with a range of targets including US military bases. In Lithuania, Moscow has used organized criminal networks to arrange physical attacks on Russian opposition figures.
Swedish security police are investigating possible sabotage behind repeated railway derailments in the far north of the country, and the Estonian security services have logged intensified Russian efforts to recruit local citizens to attack their own government.
Arrests by the Polish authorities include a man who was reconnoitring security arrangements at the important Rzeszow airport, apparently with the intent to aid an attempt at assassinating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was due to transit through there.
Poland has also disrupted at least one network of agents set up for reconnaissance and sabotage of the country’s rail network.
Similar patterns are apparent in Russian electronic warfare disrupting flights around the Baltic Sea region. It is a problem that dates back years, covers an expanding area of Europe and is becoming increasingly serious.
In March Russia was reported to have jammed satellite signals affecting an aircraft carrying the UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps back from Poland, while similar signal interference was widely reported to be a problem for several British holiday flights in April.
In northern Norway too, Russian jamming of GPS is not only disrupting air traffic on a daily basis, but is hampering the work of police and emergency services.
Flights between Finland and Estonia have been repeatedly abandoned and are now suspended, as of late April. The growing impact of flight cancellations and aborted landings is a cost directly attributable to Russian action. But Western inaction means there are no consequences for Moscow.
State department officials said Russia used the choking agent chloropicrin to win "battlefield gains" over Ukraine.
The allegations, which US officials said were not an "isolated" incident, would contravene the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which Russia signed.
Russia Using Chemical Choking Agents in Ukraine, US Says - BBC News
The United States, Britain and the European Union are pressing the United Arab Emirates to show it is cracking down on firms evading sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Ukraine, according to three sources aware of the diplomatic outreach.
U.S., Allies Press UAE Over Russia Trade, Sanctions | Reuters
