(London) A 20-year-old British man has been charged in London under the national security law for allegedly organizing attacks on “businesses linked to Ukraine”, authorities said on Friday, a case tried “deeply concerning” by the United Kingdom.
“Dylan Earl, 20, is suspected of having targeted companies linked to Ukraine in order to benefit the Russian state,” said Nick Price, head of the anti-terrorism division of the British prosecution.
These facts include “planning an arson” against a “Ukraine-linked” company last month.
At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the summons of the Russian ambassador to London, Andreï Keline.
The United Kingdom called for an “immediate end” to “malicious activities orchestrated by Russia” on its soil, according to a spokesperson for British diplomacy.
“We will continue to work with our allies to (…) defend ourselves against the full spectrum of threats emanating from Russia,” added the same source.
During this summons, “the Russian side underlined the absurd and knowingly unfounded nature of this new falsification of information hastily concocted by the British establishment”, indicated the ambassador, according to a comment sent to the public agency TASS.
Connections with the Wagner group
Dylan Earl is suspected of having recruited and paid perpetrators to cause the major fire in March of industrial warehouses located in Leyton, east London and belonging to a Ukrainian couple living in the British capital.
Prosecutors said four other men had been charged with lesser charges in the case.
They appeared in a London court on April 22 and were remanded in custody. Court-ordered restrictions prevented the case from being revealed until then.
Court documents released for this hearing link the case to the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, classified as a terrorist organization in the United Kingdom.
“While we must allow the legal process to take its course, I am deeply concerned by allegations that British nationals have carried out criminal activity on UK soil for the benefit of the Russian state,” responded the leader of diplomacy David Cameron on
“We will use the full weight of the justice system to hold accountable anyone found guilty of crimes related to foreign interference,” he added.
The United Kingdom is one of Ukraine’s main supporters, and the country has long accused Russia of carrying out hostile activities on its soil, such as the poisonings of former Russian agents Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 and Sergei Skripal in 2018.
Visiting Berlin, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called the recent cases of pro-Russian espionage and conspiracy revealed in Germany and the United Kingdom “unacceptable”: these cases “will not dissuade us from bringing our support for Ukraine,” he assured.
“Very important investigation”
In detail, Dylan Earl is notably being prosecuted for assisting a foreign intelligence service, while one of the other accused, Dmitrijus Paulauska, is indicted for having accepted “material profit” from a foreign service.
The two other men are being prosecuted for “aggravated arson”.
A new hearing is scheduled for May 10.
The prosecutions were launched under a new national security law 2023, aimed at strengthening the UK’s defenses against “hostile activities” targeting its democracy and economy.
“Not only are the charges authorized by the prosecution extremely serious, but it is also the first time that we have arrested and charged someone using the powers and legislation provided by the national security law,” the chief stressed. from the counter-terrorism command of the Metropolitan Police in London Dominic Murphy, in a press release.
He assured that there was no “wider threat linked to this affair”.
Several recent espionage cases have broken out in the United Kingdom. In one of them, five Bulgarian nationals are being prosecuted for spying for Russia.
This week, a former researcher affiliated with Parliament was indicted for spying for China.
reference: www.lapresse.ca