![\"Cargo](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/cargo-ship.png\")
<\/p>\nTwo suspected Russian spies broke into Britain on commercial cargo ships before visiting areas near critical infrastructure and military bases, it has been revealed.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, the men entered the country through the ports at Torquay, Middlesbrough and Grangemouth, according to The i Paper. <\/p>\n
According to a UK defence source, two men linked to Putin\u2019s military and intelligence slipped into Britain undetected via cargo ships.<\/p>\n
Experts say the Kremlin spies did this to take advantage \u201cless rigorous\u201d border checks at the docks. <\/p>\n
Two men linked to Putin\u2019s military and intelligence slipped into Britain undetected via cargo ships (file photo)<\/p>\n
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Neither vessel the men used were Russian flagged and they were not listed among the “shadow fleet” of sanctioned ships linked to Mr Putin’s regime. <\/p>\n
The shadow fleet are described as a covert network of ships that obscure who owns them and what they carry to move restricted goods.<\/p>\n
Western security experts have said that Russia is turning European shipping lanes into a grey-area conflict zone, using what appear to be normal cargo ships for drone operations and covert monitoring.<\/p>\n
According to The i Paper, a senior Nato official responsible for safeguarding Europe\u2019s shipping lanes said they have observed Russian intelligence movements on ordinary cargo ships<\/p>\n
![\"European](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/european-shipping-lane.jpg\")
Western security experts have said that Russia is turning European shipping lanes into a grey-area conflict zone<\/p>\n
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The official told the newspaper that Russians “dominate” the European shipping industry, creating an “ideal” environment for the Kremlin to conduct covert operations.<\/p>\n
The Nato source said: “It would be the most natural place to move people around in that world, and we think it\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not sailing on shadow fleet tankers, they are sailing on all [types of] ships.”<\/p>\n
The official added that since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there has been a surge in Russian spies observing and “testing” European ports to “find weaknesses”. <\/p>\n
RUSSIA – READ THE LATEST:<\/p>\n
One suspected Russian spy, seen at secure military bases, arrived in Torquay from Finland and visited areas near Lulworth Firing Range, where British forces train Ukrainian troops.<\/p>\n
Another, previously observed at intelligence sites in Moscow and St Petersburg, came via Kaliningrad and docked at Middlesbrough and Grangemouth, before visiting key fuel facilities.<\/p>\n
Atlantic Council senior fellow Elizabeth Braw said that border checks at ports are less stringent than airports and therefore, it “makes sense\u201d for Russian agents to use them. <\/p>\n
Ms Braw said: “It doesn\u2019t surprise me that Russia wants to bring certain people into the country even though they can reach people who are already there.<\/p>\n
![\"Lulworth](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/lulworth-firing-range.jpg\")
One of the suspected spies visited areas near Lulworth Firing Range<\/p>\n
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\u201cThey need their own operatives to conduct this sort of activity.”<\/p>\n
The senior fellow noted that these tasks are usually carried out by Russian operatives on UK-based diplomatic postings. <\/p>\n
However, she added that there \u201cfar few officers in the country\u201d after 24 Russian intelligence officials were expelled from Britain. <\/p>\n
More than 2,900 people have been sanctioned by the Government since the invasion of Ukraine began. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two suspected Russian spies broke into Britain on commercial cargo ships before visiting areas near critical infrastructure and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,12,1144,332,712,16,15,1764,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-610841","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-northern-ireland","15":"tag-russia","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wales","20":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115659276659161800","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}