UK Charges Man Over Alleged Plot With Russian Spies to Sabotage Drone Factory

A British man has been charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service in connection with an alleged plot to sabotage drone manufacturing sites in England, prosecutors told a London court on Thursday.

Joshua Cammidge, 31, faces a charge of engaging in conduct that materially assists a foreign intelligence service, an offence under the National Security Act. He did not enter a plea at his initial appearance in Westminster Magistrates' Court.

He was returned to custody and is due to appear at the Central Criminal Court on Sept. 25.

Prosecutor Warren Stanier said Cammidge had been in contact with a suspected representative of the GRU Volunteer Corps, a group controlled by Russia's military intelligence agency. The communications centred on the locations of drone factories in the United Kingdom and their sabotage, Stanier said, adding that Cammidge understood who he was dealing with and what his offer implied.

According to the prosecution, Cammidge provided information between March and early September on four drone manufacturing sites in his hometown of Swindon, west of London.

The GRU Volunteer Corps was declared a national security threat by the UK in July, accused of gathering foreign intelligence and carrying out hostile covert operations on behalf of Russian military spies. Support for the group was banned under a new law designed to strengthen the government's ability to tackle proxy organisations acting for foreign states. Those convicted of assisting the group face up to 14 years in prison.

British authorities have previously blamed the GRU for hostile activities against the country and its allies, including the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack and broader sabotage and intelligence operations across Europe.