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US Soldier Held in UK on Suspicion of Spying for RussiaWorld
A 41-year-old US soldier was arrested near Gloucester on suspicion of spying for Russia, in a case British police say involved close work with US authorities.
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A senior member of the United States Army has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of spying for Russia, British counter-terrorism police said on Tuesday. The 41-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was detained near Gloucester in the west of England and is being held at a police station in London.
The soldier was arrested on suspicion of offences under sections 1 and 3 of the National Security Act 2023, which cover obtaining or disclosing protected information and assisting a foreign intelligence service. Police said the country to which the allegations relate is Russia, and that searches were carried out at two locations in Gloucestershire. No charge has been filed.
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The BBC reported that the soldier was based at Imjin Barracks in Innsworth, Gloucestershire, the headquarters of NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, a multinational formation designed to respond quickly to crises. Police have not publicly confirmed the posting, although a senior NATO official confirmed to American media that the serviceman was assigned to the corps. No details of his role have been released.
A joint investigation, and a denial from Moscow
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Vicki Evans, Britain’s senior national coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing, said the arrest and investigation were the result of close collaboration between UK and US authorities, and that the investigation was very much ongoing. FBI Director Kash Patel thanked British police and intelligence agencies, describing the case as an important arrest involving allegations of espionage of the utmost concern to the United States and its allies.
Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, commanding general of the US Army’s Counterintelligence Command, said the alleged conduct of a senior soldier entrusted with sensitive information was a sobering reminder that insider threats are real and persistent. The Pentagon referred questions to the US Army, which did not immediately respond.
On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian involvement, saying Moscow did not know what the arrest was connected to and had nothing to do with it. The allegations remain unproven, and police said the investigation was not linked to any other ongoing counter-terrorism inquiry.
The case is the latest espionage allegation involving suspected Russian agents in Britain, a close ally of Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022. Relations between London and Moscow were frosty long before the war, marred by the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006 and the attempted poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. In September, a British man appeared in court in London over allegations that he was preparing to sabotage a drone factory on behalf of Russian military intelligence. Reports described the arrest as believed to be the first time a serving US soldier has been suspected of spying for a foreign government while in Britain.
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