Exclusive: Senior members of Putin’s administration are incensed by what they consider to be aggressive and inflammatory remarks made by British ministers.
Security officials are deeply concerned that the
Kremlin may reveal the identities of British intelligence officers in the
escalating and bitter confrontation following the Salisbury nerve agent
attack, The Independent has learned.
The disclosure could start, it is feared, with those
who work for MI6 among the 23 British diplomats being thrown out of Moscow in
retaliation for the same number being expelled from the UK. Doing so would break
standard protocol in place to protect spies from opposing sides, in
recognition that exposing personal details may put them in
danger including from terrorist attacks.
It has been the normal practice since the end of the
Cold War to avoid leaking such information in these circumstances. The UK
has not published the names of the 23 Russians who have been expelled and there
are no plans to do so. Some senior members of Vladimir Putin’s
administration are, however, incensed by what they consider to be aggressive
and inflammatory remarks made by British ministers about Russia’s culpability
over the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter
Yulia and are said to be advocating drastic action.
Security officials are deeply concerned that the
Kremlin may reveal the identities of British intelligence officers in the
escalating and bitter confrontation following the Salisbury nerve agent
attack, The Independent has learned.
The disclosure could start, it is feared, with those
who work for MI6 among the 23 British diplomats being thrown out of Moscow in
retaliation for the same number being expelled from the UK. Doing so would
break standard protocol in place to protect spies from opposing sides, in
recognition that exposing personal details may put them in
danger including from terrorist attacks.
It has been the normal practice since the end of the
Cold War to avoid leaking such information in these circumstances. The UK
has not published the names of the 23 Russians who have been expelled and there
are no plans to do so. Some senior members of Vladimir Putin’s
administration are, however, incensed by what they consider to be aggressive
and inflammatory remarks made by British ministers about Russia’s culpability
over the attempted assassination of former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter
Yulia and are said to be advocating drastic action.
The media in the UK are requested to and generally
adhere to the Sensitive Persons Information (SPI) agreement under which
personal details of members of security, intelligence and counter-terrorist
agencies, as well as special forces and the MoD are not put in the public
domain.
But it is acknowledged that it would be impossible to
keep these details totally secret in the days of the internet should the
Russians choose to reveal them. There is also the worry that Moscow may want to
carry out a wider dissemination of British security and intelligence
information, possibly using a platform like WikiLeaks which had, in the past,
been used to expose Western secrets.
WikiLeaks was also used to release 20,000 Democratic
National Committee emails during the US presidential election campaign to
undermine Hilary Clinton and help Donald Trump. The US President’s links with
Moscow are currently under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller.
Attempts by the UK to organise concerted international
action against Moscow have, so far, been largely unsuccessful. Despite
expressions of solidarity from the European Union there have been no moves for
further sanctions.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission
President, has congratulated Mr Putin on his re-election and has urged closer
ties between the European Union and Moscow. And, in a major blow to Theresa
May’s government, Donald Trump sent his own congratulations to Russia’s
President, while at the same time pointedly failing to raise the issue of
the Salisbury attack.
Mr Trump, presented by Tory right-wingers as the most
staunch ally of post-Brexit Britain, ignored the warnings of his national
security advisors whose briefing material, it has been reported, said in
capital letters “DO NOT CONGRATULATE”. He also dismissed suggestions that he
should make clear the US’s concerns over the nerve agent attack.
The President described his conversation with Mr Putin as a “very good
call.”
The British government is still threatening to take
unilateral punitive measures against Russia. Appearing before the Commons
Foreign Affairs Committee, Boris Johnson repeated his charge that Mr Putin was
responsible for the Salisbury attack, saying: “The trail of responsibility for
the assassination does lead inexorably back to the Kremlin. No matter how exactly
it came to be done, the path of responsibility goes back to those at the top.”
The poisoning, he added, was “a sign” from Mr Putin that “no one could escape
the long arm of Russian revenge.”
Mr Johnson wanted to stress that investigations were
continuing into wealthy Russians in the UK over possible economic crimes. The
Foreign Secretary had taken £160,000 in donation to the Conservative Party for
playing tennis with the wife of one of Mr Putin’s former ministers, and
the same woman had also donated £30,000 to the party in return for having lunch
with Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson. Mr Johnson had defended receiving the
money, saying: “It’s very important that we do not allow a miasma of suspicion
about all rich Russians in London to be created.”
A senior Whitehall official stated that Russian
threats to disclose the identities of British intelligence officers were
“utterly unjustified and irresponsible. They know we did not make public the
names of those working under diplomatic credentials we expelled from this
country. That list was carefully calibrated and we intend to maintain channels
of communication.”
Some in the Russian diplomatic hierarchy are also
urging caution. A former senior diplomat, who recently left the
country’s foreign service, said: “This would be a drastic step if
this is what they are thinking. But one needs to be especially careful. Both
Russian and British people involved in intelligence face common enemies in
Islamist terrorists and will be in danger if both sides start identifying each
other’s officers.
“The British have produced no evidence of their claims
about this nerve agent attack. Boris is saying a lot, but he always does, and
we know he is not really taken seriously by most European governments. And we
hear the new British defence minister made a fool of himself the other day. So it
is best if everyone tries to remain calm and not do anything too drastic.”
The Kremlin has organised a briefing for foreign
ambassadors in Moscow to give its defence of accusations over the Salisbury
attack. A spokeswoman at the British embassy said that Laurie Bristow, the
ambassador, has refused to attend. President Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov,
commented: “Yet one more eloquent manifestation of the absurd situation when
questions are asked and an unwillingness is demonstrated to hear at least some
kind of an answer.”
***https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/russia-uk-spies-sergei-skripal-moscow-boris-johnson-identify-putin-world-cup-a8267116.html?S2ref=901165