ritish, Lithuanian and Latvian authorities have detained several people on suspicion of carrying out intelligence-related activities on behalf of Russia in the latest of a string of incidents to be linked to Moscow by Western officials.
London’s Metropolitan Police force said Thursday that they arrested three people just east of London on suspicion of spying for Russia. On Wednesday, Lithuanian prosecutors said that they uncovered and detained a Russia-linked network of suspects who are alleged to have planned and organized arson attacks in various European countries. Meanwhile, Latvia’s security service said it detained a man suspected of passing intelligence about the military to Russia.
British police said they arrested two men, ages 41 and 46, and a 35-year-old woman in the county of Essex. They searched two addresses and later released the suspects on bail.
Lithuania’s prosecutor general office said that suspects in a separate case are accused of sending packages containing homemade explosive devices to other European Union countries and Britain via courier services, on behalf of Russia’s military intelligence services. The highly flammable incendiary devices with timed detonators were hidden inside vibrating massage cushions and tubes of cosmetics.
