An article has appeared on June 30 in the Russian backed London Evening Standard, owned by a formed KGB-operative, warning of potential upsurges in assassinations by Russian intelligence services in London if the UK places stronger sanctions upon Russia.
Mark Galeotti, a professor of Global Affairs for the New York University working in Moscow, told London first that that the British capital has enjoyed relative safety from Kremlin-backed attacks because of prominent Moscow figures living and investing in London. According to him, this situation can change if the city becomes less attractive for the Russian elite due to economic sanctions, and that the Kremlin was “increasingly willing” to use violence to deal with opponents. As proof, Mr. Galeotti at a briefing referred to recent assassinations of fundraiser for Chechen and North Caucasus groups in Türkiye and Austria that were carried out by the Russian agents, also accused with killing the Russian fugitive FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London (on photo).
The main danger, according to Mark Galeotti, falls on “political and lobby groupings” in London that support the Ukrainian cause, which include some “very outspoken Ukrainian people.” One of the main groups that can be targeted, if these threats prove true, is the London Euromaidan. Other effective Euromaidans in Great Britain are at risk too, but this initial threat is by no doubt directed against them. It is one of the key organizations supporting the Ukrainian cause in Britain. The group is famous for their ceaseless vigil outside Downing Street for three months, for over 150 protests held since November 2013, with the largest one uniting 10 000 people who Marched from the Marble Arch to the Russian embassy .
It is telling that this story appeared in The London Evening Standard, owned by Alexander Lebedev, formerly a KBG operative, and now a Russian oligarch living in London. The London Evening Standard is a newspaper handed out at every train station in London. Free copies of it are forcefully distributed by hired people at all major station, and almost every commuter is reading a copy on their way home. He is also part owner of the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta and owner of three other UK newspapers with son Evgeny Lebedev: The Independent, The Independent on Sunday, and the i Newspaper. It is no secret that British capital has had an intimate relationship with Kremlin money for many years. Will this mean that Britain’s standards of human rights and freedom of speech will become no less Kremlinized? While we await the answer to this question, London activists have to live in fear for speaking out against Russia’s occupation of Ukraine.
