Cleverly kicks out Moscow’s defence envoy in crackdown on Putin’s spooks
BRITAIN cracked down on Russian spies yesterday, expelling Moscow’s defence attaché and shutting a secret base known as ‘Putin’s Palace’.
James Cleverly unveiled plans to ‘target and dismantle Russian intelligence gathering operations’ in what is seen as one of the most significant steps of its kind since the end of the Cold War.
The Home Secretary unmasked the Russian defence attaché, Colonel Maxim Elovik, as a top spy and he will be immediately expelled from the UK. He also announced that a series of diplomatic premises suspected of being spy bases will lose their special legal status.
The minister told MPs: ‘Our message to Russia is clear. Stop this illegal war, withdraw your troops from Ukraine, cease this malign activity.’
Mr Cleverly insisted the Government and the British public would not be misled by Russia’s spread of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and ‘will not be taken for fools by Putin’s bots, trolls and lackeys’.
Elovik – who has been in Britain for around a decade – met Britain’s Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin for talks in September 2022 to ‘strengthen military to military channels of communication’ with Moscow.
A former assistant military attaché at Russia’s embassy in the US, he was allowed into the Ministry of Defence for meetings and was pictured at wreath-laying ceremonies commemorating Russian war dead last year.
But Mr Cleverly told the Commons yesterday the Colonel was in fact an ‘undeclared military intelligence officer’. Along with Elovik’s expulsion, the Home Office is imposing restrictions on Russian diplomatic visas, with a cap on now long the diplomats can stay in the country.
A series of Russian-owned buildings in the UK will be stripped of diplomatic status. Sources said the suspected spy bases will not formally close and diplomats may still live there, but they will no longer be able to enjoy special status as a working site of the Russian Embassy and the legal protections that affords them.
One of the Russian intelligence hubs hit is Seacox Heath, a Grade II listed mansion in Hawkhurst, East Sussex, which has been owned by Moscow since 194 . The 83-acre estate, with tennis courts and a football pitch, was originally intended as a luxury retreat for diplomatic staff. In 1952, it was described in the Daily Mail as a ‘Russian country club’.
Dubbed ‘Putin’s Palace’ in the UK, little is now known about what goes on behind the gates of the 1871 mansion.
Another key building to lose diplomatic status is the Russian Embassy’s trade and defence section in Highgate, north London, in a neighbourhood popular with Russian diplomats and oligarchs.
The measures are calculated to severely dent the Kremlin’s ability to carry out intelligence operations in the UK. Yesterday Mr Cleverly said an escalation in these ‘reckless and dangerous activities’ included sabotage, espionage, cyber-attacks, disinformation attacks, air space incursions and GPS jamming.
He told MPs he wanted to send a ‘strong deterrent message’ and added: ‘We should expect accusations of Russophobia, conspiracy theories and hysteria from the Russian government.
‘The British people and the British Government will not fall for it, and will not be taken for fools by Putin’s bots, trolls and lackeys.’
Yesterday the Russian ambassador was summoned to relay the measures.
Last night, Russia’s foreign ministry said Britain had used ‘outright lies’ to justify the measures. A spokesman added: ‘We have warned London that any unfriendly actions will receive a commensurate response.’
‘Bots, trolls and lackeys’