Russians spy on retired Sir Humphreys
DOZENS of recently retired Ministry of Defence civil servants were earmarked by Russia for an intelligence gathering operation.
The list, drawn up before Britain entered Covid lockdown last year, was uncovered by a joint operation between MI6 and the CIA after the agencies received separate information alerting them to the plot.
UK intelligence sources said it was obtained in Paris following a threeweek operation, with special credit going to a recently recruited female MI6 officer on her first assignment.
It bore 27 names, ranging from highlevel to middleranking MOD civil servants. Two were “incorrect”.
While many of the civil servants were based in Whitehall, one is said to have been based at Abbey Wood, home of the Mod’s Defence Equipment and Support procurement organisation, while another worked at Devonport naval base, the Royal Navy’s only nuclear repair and refuelling facility.
Two were based in Scotland, although sources would not say if they worked at Lossiemouth, where the RAF’S Quick Reaction Alert force scrambles when Russian military aircraft fly close to UK airspace.
The list meticulously detailed information about where the retirees now live, with locations including Croydon, Brighton, Eastbourne, Plymouth, Bristol and Scotland.
It included their social activities, club memberships and even hobbies.
The list contained two unmarried women and four divorced men, suggesting they were being targeted for long-term intelligence harvesting operations which may have included the use of so-called Ravens – male officers employed to seduce people for information – and honeytraps.
It is believed that both London and Washington DC already suspected such a list existed. According to the Mi5-run Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure, the UK remains “a high-priority espionage target – many countries seek UK information and material to advance their own military, technological, political and economic programmes”.
Dr Paul Maddrell, author of Spy Chiefs and a specialist on intelligence at Loughborough University, said: “This is a fascinating revelation. It shows Russia continues its aggressive activities even after the poisoning of Litvinenko and attempted poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.”
‘A fascinating revelation...’
MORE than 3,000 British pensioners living in Canada have signed a letter to Boris Johnson urging him to end an “injustice” so they will not be left to slide into poverty.
They want him to strike a deal with Canada to end the policy which freezes pensions at the level they were when they left Britain.
They say the vast majority of pensioners receive less than £60 per week – less than half what they would get if they had stayed in the UK. The Canadian government has pushed for a “comprehensive social security agreement” and concern about British pensioners is building in that country’s parliament.
Their letter says: “By signing this agreement you would end the injustice for 150,000 UK pensioners in Canada, and send a message that the Government will not allow pensioners overseas, who have paid into the system, to suffer in later life because of where they choose to live.
“This immoral policy is pushing pensioners into poverty at the very time we should be enjoying the secure retirement we believed we had. Some of us have been forced to work well into our 80s, feel unable to be the grandparents we wish we could be, and feel ashamed to be British.”
Pensions minister Guy Opperman said the Department for Work and Pensions “plans to respond shortly to a request from Canada for a reciprocal social security agreement”.
A DWP spokesman said: “We understand that people move abroad for many reasons and that this can impact on their finances.”
‘Policy pushing us into poverty’