Suspected Russian spy worked for UK intelligence service, Foreign Office: Report

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - An alleged Russian spy reportedly lied to gain asylum in the UK before he worked for the British Foreign Office, accessed British military and intelligence secrets and met with senior politicians and Charles, the future king, according to a report by the Times.

The suspected Russian spy, who is identified only as C2, worked with two prime ministers – David Cameron and Gordon Brown – and met with then-Prince Charles and Prince William on visits to Afghanistan while working for the British government, the report said.

Ultimately, according to the Times, he obtained both Russian and British citizenship, but he was stripped of his British citizenship in 2019 after UK's security service MI5 believed he was an agent for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence organization accused of orchestrating the nerve agent attack in Salisbury a year earlier.

C2 has denied being a spy or that he is a risk to national security and said that MI5 has accused him of being groomed as a Russian asset since the age of five.

He is appealing against the government’s decision to strip him of his British citizenship in a hearing before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC).

He entered the UK in 2000 and was given asylum after claiming he was fleeing the Taliban and had arrived in Britain directly from Afghanistan, although he lived in Russia for six years.

On Tuesday, he admitted to the court that he had lied in his asylum application.

C2 claimed that he went on to work for Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), MI6, the Ministry of Defense and the Home Office, according to the report.

He was in Afghanistan during his childhood and he went to Russia in 1994 by paying a people smuggler to take him to Russia. He studied the Russian language and literature before marrying a Russian citizen.
Later, he came to Britain in 2000 with again the help of a people smuggler, according to the Times.

- 'Asked to take a lie detector test'

The report said that the smuggler obtained for him a fake Russian passport and bought a Caribbean holiday package, for which he transited through Heathrow Airport in London. However, instead of boarding his connecting flight, C2 handed himself to immigration officials in the British capital and claimed asylum, saying he had directly come from Afghanistan.

The court was also told that he went on to work for the Ministry of Defense, MI6 and NATO, and was naturalized as a British citizen.

After leaving the Foreign Office, C2 went on to work in Afghanistan and visited Russia at least six times.

C2 remained working in Afghanistan until the fall of the US-backed Kabul administration in 2021, at a time when the British security services became suspicious of his relationship with Russia.

The suspected spy said that when he flew to London from Kabul to see his family, he was asked to meet an officer from the British intelligence service and another man from the FBI.

He was questioned about links to intelligence agencies and meetings with Russian agents.

C2 said the British man, who called himself "Robert", accused him of being trained by the GRU since the age of five and entering the UK in 2000 to work as a GRU agent.

In another meeting later that year, C2 said he was asked to take a lie detector test and was told he had failed it. He claimed that Robert told him that MI5 knew, since at least 2004, that he was in contact with Russia.

In court this week, C2’s lawyer Robert Palmer said C2 had put his life at risk while working for the Foreign Office in Afghanistan and had a "track record of loyalty to the UK."

He denied being a risk to national security or an agent and argued that C2 had only met the Russian officers after leaving government employment at which time he had no access to secret documents.