A 41-year-old American Army soldier was arrested in Britain on Tuesday on suspicion of spying for Russia, the Metropolitan Police said.
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that the unnamed soldier was arrested by British counter-terrorism police “working closely with US authorities, the US military and the FBI”. He remains in custody at a London police station.
“The 41-year-old man was arrested near Gloucester on Tuesday, Nov. 10,” the release said. “He was arrested on suspicion of offenses under sections 1 and 3 of the National Security Act 2023.”
Article 1 of the Act deals with the handling of “protected information” and Article 3 deals with “assistance of foreign intelligence services.”
Police said: “We are conducting searches at two locations in Gloucestershire as part of our investigation.” “The country the allegations relate to is Russia.”
A senior NATO official told CNN that the soldier in question was “assigned to the Allied Rapid Reaction Command,” a British-led NATO command based in Gloucester.
Gen. Sean Stinchon, commander of the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Command, said in a release that the “senior soldier” in question was “entrusted with classified information.”
According to U.S. officials, the soldier is an Army field-grade officer, equivalent to a mid- to senior-level officer, including the ranks of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement that the arrests “include charges of espionage.”
“While this investigation continues, I want to send a clear message: The FBI will not tolerate those who violate their oath to America and whose actions endanger the safety of our country and our partners,” Patel said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Russia “has absolutely nothing to do with this and neither do we.”
“This arrest has nothing to do with us, and we don’t know what it has to do with it,” he said.
British anti-terrorism police have also recently investigated other incidents related to the US military presence in the UK, including incidents near bases used by the US military.
In September, authorities arrested five men outside Fairford Air Force Base, a base used by the United States to attack Iran.
British prosecutors later charged two British nationals under national security laws in connection with the incident, saying the men were suspected of supporting Iran. Iran denies involvement in the incident. U.S. authorities on Tuesday charged the leader of an Iranian extremist group with allegedly directing an attempted attack on the Fairford Air Force Air Force through coded messages from a New York City jail.
And in October, British counter-terrorism police announced they were investigating after two Latvian men were arrested at a Royal Air Force base used by US military personnel.
The Metropolitan Police said in a press release on Tuesday that the incident involving a US soldier was “unrelated to any other ongoing counter-terrorism police investigation.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
