Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are due to travel to Moscow this week amid a standoff over a Russian troop buildup near Ukraine that has fuelled fears that Moscow may attack.

Russia, which has made a sweeping set of security demands of the West, including a formal veto on Ukraine ever joining NATO, denies any such plan. Western governments have threatened major sanctions if Moscow invades.

Russia’s ambassador to London, Andrey Kelin, said Moscow was interested in the talks if Britain had constructive proposals to make in response to Moscow’s security demands, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.

“If they’re coming to Russia to threaten us again with sanctions then it is fairly pointless: we read everything, see everything, know and hear. In this case, the dialogue and conversation in Moscow will be probably fairly short,” he said.

(Reporting by Anton Kolodyazhnyy; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: https://uk.news.yahoo.com/russia-tells-uk-drop-sanctions-071436790.html

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The Foreign Secretary will say the only way forward is for Russia to deescalate and pursue a diplomatic pathway

She will make clear that the Kremlin’s current strategy is damaging Russian standing and interests

The Foreign Secretary will also assert the right of Ukraine to self-determination and urge Russia to abide by the international agreements it has already signed up to

Liz Truss will fly to Moscow today to urge the Kremlin to de-escalate and desist its aggression against Ukraine.

The visit is the first by a UK Foreign Secretary in more than four years. During the two-day trip, the Foreign Secretary will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to make clear that the only way forward is for Russia to cease its aggression and engage in meaningful talks.

She will push for Russia to abide by the international agreements it has already signed up to – including the OSCE Helsinki Final Act, Minsk Protocols, and the Budapest memorandum, which ensures the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine is respected.

The UK is spearheading ongoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts – last week the Prime Minister visited Kyiv, and yesterday he hosted the Prime Minister of Lithuania, Ingrida Šimonytė, and spoke to Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte about the situation in Eastern Europe. The Foreign Secretary has also spoken to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, and Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra about the situation on Ukraine’s border in recent days.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said:

The UK is determined to stand up for freedom and democracy in Ukraine. I’m visiting Moscow to urge Russia to pursue a diplomatic solution and make clear that another Russian invasion of a sovereign state would bring massive consequences for all involved.

Russia should be in no doubt about the strength of our response. We have said many times that any further invasion would incur severe costs, including through a coordinated package of sanctions.

Russia has a choice here. We strongly encourage them to engage, de-escalate and choose the path of diplomacy.

This visit follows the announcement last week of legislation for the UK’s strongest ever sanctions regime against Russia. The new approach gives the UK unprecedented power to sanction a much broader range of individuals and businesses linked to Russia’s strategic interests, leaving those closest to the Kremlin with nowhere to hide.

While in Moscow, the Foreign Secretary will also visit Moscow State University, where she will see first-hand how physics and math lessons are building a generation of future science leaders – a shared interest between Russia and the UK.

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretary-flies-to-moscow-to-urge-de-escalation-of-russian-aggression-against-ukraine

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There are more than five times as many Russian intelligence officers now than there were during the Cold War, according to a report uncovered by Andrew Gilligan for The Sunday Times.

The findings come from a report to be published next week by the Henry Jackson Society think tank following their interviews with former intelligence officials.

The report will reveal that there are an estimated 200 spies in the UK and at least 500 agents providing information.

The figures come amid an increasing fear of Russian infiltration and espionage in the country following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March this year.

The father and daughter, who were poisoned with a military grade Novichok nerve agent, were discovered unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4 before rescue services were called to the scene.

Months later police were investigating a second case of Novichok poisoning after victims Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley were exposed to the nerve agent.

Mother-of-three Mrs Sturgess, 44, died after her exposure to the lethal poison.

Two Russian men, travelling under the names of Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were later charged for the poisoning in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Following the attempted murder of the former KGB spy Sergei Skripal, 23 suspected intelligence officers were expelled from the UK.

However the report will expose that about half of the 56 accredited Russian diplomats still in London are still believed to be involved in intelligence work.

It comes amid an increasing fear of Russian infiltration and espionage in the country following the attempted murders of Sergei and Yulia Skripal in March this year.

It will also unveil that there are several spies based at the Russian trade delegation office in Highgate and the Rossotrudnichestvo cultural centre in Kensington High Street.

Author of the report Andrew Foxall said that the capital is ‘ill-equipped’ to deal with the worrying espionage figure and calls for the country to follow the steps similar to those in Estonia, according to The Sunday Times.

In Estonia an annual report is published naming those working for organisations with links to Russian intelligence.

The concerning figure marks a significant rise to that recorded in 2010.

In 2010 the MI5 had said the number of Russian intelligence officers in London was at the same level as in Soviet times.

On their website they had written: ‘We estimate that at least 20 foreign intelligence services are currently operating in the UK against UK interests. The Russian and Chinese intelligence services are particularly active, and currently present the greatest concern.’

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6300197/Russia-five-times-spies-Britain-did-Cold-War.html

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