Former British service personnel who assist the Russian state can be prosecuted under national security legislation long after leaving the armed forces, the Defence Secretary told the Commons, responding to reports that Western military veterans have been recruited to train Russian personnel.
Johanna Baxter, the Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, raised the matter during Wes Streeting’s first statement in the role on Thursday, citing reporting in the Daily Telegraph the previous day.
Quoting from the article, she told the House that “an assessment compiled for Five Eyes intelligence agencies found, with ‘strong confidence’, that Western military veterans had been recruited to train Russian citizens as well as ‘active duty military’ personnel”, and asked the Defence Secretary to investigate as a matter of urgency and report back.
Streeting declined to discuss intelligence as a matter of policy, but addressed the substance directly. Having spent his first seven weeks in post meeting members of the special forces, he described their capability as truly remarkable, with his only regret being that the country cannot be shown publicly how exceptional they are.
“It is in that spirit that I find it utterly unthinkable and shameful that anyone who has served this country, in whatever capacity, would think it in any way acceptable to support the Russian state as it wages war in Ukraine,” he said.
Such actions are, in his account, “an affront not only to this country and our values, but to the values that underpin the uniform that those who serve in our armed forces wear”, adding that he spoke for the entire armed forces community in saying so.
The National Security Act 2023 gives the intelligence agencies and the police the tools to detect and disrupt threats, he said, and its interpretation section specifies that “‘information’ includes information about tactics, techniques and procedures”.
Crucially, in his words, the Act “is applicable to any individual and extends beyond the period in which personnel are employed by the UK armed forces. Let that be a warning to anyone who has supported, or considers supporting, the Russians as they wage war in Ukraine.”
