“The accusations are serious”: an American NATO soldier, suspected of spying for Russia, taken into police custody in the United Kingdom

British police on Wednesday questioned a 41-year-old American soldier attached to a NATO base in England, arrested the day before on suspicion of spying for Russia. This affair, in which Moscow has denied any involvement, occurs in a context of tensions linked to the war in Ukraine, but also of threats attributed to Iran on British bases.

Anti-terrorism police announced Tuesday evening that they had arrested this member of the American army, “in close collaboration” with the United States, near Gloucester, in the southwest of England. The man was assigned to NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC), whose headquarters is in Innsworth, Gloucestershire, a senior NATO military official said. He was described as a “high-ranking” soldier by the head of US Army counterintelligence.

He was arrested under sections 1 and 3 of the British National Security Act, which relate respectively to the disclosure of “protected information” and assisting a foreign intelligence service, according to police, specifying that the country concerned “is Russia”. He was taken into custody in London. Police said on Wednesday that the questioning was continuing, as were searches carried out at “two locations” in Gloucestershire. Police custody can last up to 14 days.

Questioned by journalists on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied any Russian involvement. “This arrest has nothing to do with us. We don’t know what it is linked to,” he said. The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps base is the largest NATO base in the UK, home to more than 400 permanent personnel from more than 20 Alliance nations. It is located not far from the headquarters of the British cyber-intelligence agency GCHQ.

“The accusations are serious and our investigation is ongoing. This operation illustrates the strength of our partnerships between the United Kingdom and the United States in terms of law enforcement and national security,” said Vicki Evans, counter-terrorism coordinator, quoted in a press release Tuesday evening. FBI Director Kash Patel called it “an important arrest.” “I want to send a clear message: the FBI has no tolerance for anyone who betrays their oath to the United States and whose actions endanger our national security and that of our partners,” he added.

Brigadier General Sean Stinchon, head of US Army counterintelligence, called the alleged actions of this “senior-ranking soldier loaded with sensitive information” a “cautionary reminder that insider threats are very real and persistent.” The security of British military bases has recently been at the heart of the news. American justice announced Tuesday that it had indicted three "Iranian agents" suspected of being involved in an incident that it describes as a "planned attack", which occurred in September near the Fairford base (southwest).

On September 27, the British police intervened near this base used by the United States in their war against Iran, after the report of “three suspicious vehicles”, in which they found no explosive device but gasoline “in quantity”. In this case, two Britons were charged - and one placed in preventive detention - for endangering national security by the British anti-terrorist police, who also pointed out the responsibility of Iran.

In October, the United States announced that it had withdrawn its planes from this base. They did the same on Monday to RAF Mildenhall air base in eastern England following a threat from Iran, according to the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times. Iran has repeatedly denied any involvement in the incident at RAF Fairford. But the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezai, said in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Tehran would strike American bases, including in Europe, if they were used to launch attacks against the Islamic Republic.