UK spy jailed for selling secrets to Russia
A spy at Berlin’s British embassy, who sold secrets to Russia and was caught in an undercover MI5 sting, has been jailed in the UK.
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A spy at Berlin’s British embassy, who sold secrets to Russia and was caught in an undercover MI5 sting, has been jailed.
David Smith, 58, tried to damage Britain’s interests by passing on details of the embassy and its staff for cash payments, a judge found after the spy pleaded guilty.
Justice Mark Wall said Smith had copied “a significant amount” of material and was “paid by Russia for your treachery”.
JSentencing Smith to 13 years and two months, Justice Wall also said Smith’s motive had been to “damage British interests” and “put people at maximum risk”.
He was caught after an MI5 sting operation in 2021.
UK police have described Smith’s actions as “reckless and dangerous”.
Police found a copy of a letter to the Prime Minister from two senior government ministers.
Smith had also passed on details of workers’ identities and activities.
Prosecutor Alison Morgan KC said he had “an extreme hatred of where he works and the United Kingdom in general”.
Smith, who spent three years collecting classified information for Russia, claimed he had mental health issues and just wanted to embarrass the embassy.
Smith pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Official Secrets Act, including one charge relating to passing information to Russian Military General Major Sergey Chukhrov attached to Berlin, in November 2020.
US JETS INTERCEPT RUSSIAN AIRCRAFT
Two American F-16 warplanes intercepted four Russian aircraft near Alaska, the joint US-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.
The “routine” intercept of the Russian planes – which included Tu-95 bomber and Su-35 fighter aircraft – occurred Monday, NORAD said in a statement.
“Russian aircraft remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace,” it said, adding that such Russian activity “occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat, nor is the activity seen as provocative.”
While the intercept of the Russian aircraft was routine, US warplanes stationed in North America saw rare offensive action this month, shooting down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon and three unidentified objects.
It comes as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ruled out giving up any Ukrainian territory in a potential peace deal with Russia.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Zelenskyy said conceding land would mean Russia could “keep coming back”.
BELARUS SIGNALS UKRAINE OFFENSIVE
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said he was “ready” to fight alongside Russia in Ukraine, but only if Kyiv attacked first.
In a chilling warning on the eve of the war’s first anniversary, Lukashenko’s comments mirror those of Vladimir Putin before February 24 invasion that the so-called “special military operation” was a defensive action against Kyiv’s attacks on Russians in the Donbas.
“I’m ready to fight together with the Russians from the territory of Belarus in one case only: if so much as one soldier from (Ukraine) comes to our territory with a gun to kill my people,” he said during a rare press conference n Minsk.
“This applies to our other neighbours,” Lukashenko added. “If they commit an aggression against Belarus, our response will be the most cruel. The most cruel!”
The potential pretext for a false flag attack on Belarus, similar to what the west warned would be used by Russia to justify its invasion, comes as the Kremlin plans a new offensive in the Spring.
Belarus allowed Russia to launch its war in 2022 in its mad dash to Kyiv, which eventually failed.
Lukashenko’s entry into the war would place his estimated forces of between 60,000 to 70,000 troops on Ukraine’s northern border, opening another front as Russia looks to capture Bakhmut in the east.
The head of Russia’s mercenary outfit Wagner said it could take months to capture the embattled Ukraine city as Moscow’s “monstrous bureaucracy” slowed military gains.
“I think it’s (going to be in) March or in April,” Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin said in one of several messages posted online overnight.
“To take Bakhmut you have to cut all supply routes. It’s a significant task,” he said, adding: “Progress is not going as fast as we would like”.
“Bakhmut would have been taken before the New Year, if not for our monstrous military bureaucracy … and the spokes that are put in the wheels daily,” he added.
Prigozhin has previously accused the Russian military of attempting to “steal” victories from Wagner, a sign of his rising clout and the potential for dangerous rifts in Moscow.
The fierce fighting for the eastern industrial city is now the longest-running battle of Russia’s intervention and Moscow’s key military objective.
Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed the Donetsk region where Bakhmut lies last year but his forces are fighting off Ukrainian troops there.
The capture of Bakhmut would be a major win for Moscow but analysts say its capture would be mainly symbolic as the salt-mining town holds little strategic value.
Ukrainian forces are determined not to cede any ground ahead of an anticipated counteroffensive in the spring.
– with AFP
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Originally published as UK spy jailed for selling secrets to Russia
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