Suspected Russian spies 'snuck into Britain using cargo ships' in major security blunder

According to a UK defence source, two men linked to Putin’s military and intelligence slipped into Britain undetected via cargo ships.

Experts say the Kremlin spies did this to take advantage “less rigorous” border checks at the docks.

Neither vessel the men used were Russian flagged and they were not listed among the "shadow fleet" of sanctioned ships linked to Mr Putin's regime.

The shadow fleet are described as a covert network of ships that obscure who owns them and what they carry to move restricted goods.

Western security experts have said that Russia is turning European shipping lanes into a grey-area conflict zone, using what appear to be normal cargo ships for drone operations and covert monitoring.

According to The i Paper, a senior Nato official responsible for safeguarding Europe’s shipping lanes said they have observed Russian intelligence movements on ordinary cargo ships

The official told the newspaper that Russians "dominate" the European shipping industry, creating an "ideal" environment for the Kremlin to conduct covert operations.

The Nato source said: "It would be the most natural place to move people around in that world, and we think it’s going on.

“They are not sailing on shadow fleet tankers, they are sailing on all [types of] ships."

The official added that since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there has been a surge in Russian spies observing and "testing" European ports to "find weaknesses".

One suspected Russian spy, seen at secure military bases, arrived in Torquay from Finland and visited areas near Lulworth Firing Range, where British forces train Ukrainian troops.

Another, previously observed at intelligence sites in Moscow and St Petersburg, came via Kaliningrad and docked at Middlesbrough and Grangemouth, before visiting key fuel facilities.

Atlantic Council senior fellow Elizabeth Braw said that border checks at ports are less stringent than airports and therefore, it "makes sense” for Russian agents to use them.

Ms Braw said: "It doesn’t surprise me that Russia wants to bring certain people into the country even though they can reach people who are already there.

“They need their own operatives to conduct this sort of activity."

The senior fellow noted that these tasks are usually carried out by Russian operatives on UK-based diplomatic postings.

However, she added that there “far few officers in the country” after 24 Russian intelligence officials were expelled from Britain.

More than 2,900 people have been sanctioned by the Government since the invasion of Ukraine began.

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