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Russian spies infiltrate UK on cargo ships to scout military sites, find weaknesses

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Russian spies infiltrate UK on cargo ships to scout military sites, find weaknesses

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Two suspected Russian spies are believed to have secretly entered the U.K. on cargo ships before traveling to locations close to key military bases and critical government infrastructure, according to reports.

The i Paper claimed the two men arrived in the U.K. during the spring and summer of 2025, using ports at Torquay, Middlesbrough and Grangemouth, in the north-east.

A U.K. defense source also suggested the men were linked to President Vladimir Putin’s military and intelligence networks.

BRITAIN SAYS RUSSIAN SPY SHIP IS ON EDGE OF UK WATERS, AS DEFENSE SECRETARY ISSUES WARNING TO PUTIN

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Two suspected Russian spies entered the U.K. via cargo ships through Torquay, Middlesbrough and Grangemouth ports before visiting areas near military bases. (PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images))

The pair are alleged to have accessed the country covertly by exploiting commercial shipping routes rather than passing through heavily monitored border entry points.

The ships they used were reportedly neither Russian-flagged nor part of the sanctioned shadow fleet associated with the Kremlin, making them far less likely to attract scrutiny.

A senior NATO official responsible for protecting Europe’s maritime waters told the outlet that intelligence agencies had detected Russian operatives traveling on non-suspicious cargo vessels.

The official said those types of ships offer an ideal way of moving personnel discreetly.

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US TURNS TO FINLAND TO CLOSE ARCTIC ‘ICEBREAKER GAP’ AS RUSSIA, CHINA EXPAND POLAR PRESENCE

Putin is testing the boundaries of NATO with aircraft incursions, allied states say. (Ramil Sitdikov/Pool/Reuters )

“It would be the most natural place to move people around in that world, and we think it’s going on,” the source said.

“They are not sailing on shadow fleet tankers, they are sailing on all [types of] ships,” the source claimed, adding that Russian agents had monitored and “tested European ports to find weaknesses.”

One of the suspected operatives is reported to have entered the U.K. through Torquay in the South West after traveling from Finland. 

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The second, previously seen in Moscow at an intelligence-linked facility, was suspected of traveling from Kaliningrad and entering via Middlesbrough and Grangemouth.

After spending time around the storage facility at Grangemouth, the second operative also traveled to Falkirk, where they visited a retail park.

NATO CONSIDERS ‘MORE AGGRESSIVE’ RESPONSE TO RUSSIA’S HYBRID THREATS

Suspected Russian operatives entered the U.K. through ports near weapon facilities to test security weaknesses. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

Both British docks were recently proposed by the Ministry of Defense as potential sites for future U.K. weapons factories. 

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They are currently unused brownfield locations, increasing concerns over the security implications of the alleged visits.

Elisabeth Braw of the Intelligence Council and senior fellow at the Atlantic Council told the i Paper that it makes sense for Russian intelligence to exploit these weaknesses.

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“It doesn’t surprise me that Russia wants to bring certain people into the country even though they can reach people who are already there,” she said.

“They need their own operatives to conduct this sort of activity,” Braw added.

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

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Video: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

new video loaded: Owner of Swiss Bar Detained in Fire Investigation

Prosecutors in Switzerland ordered Jacques Moretti to be detained after investigators questioned him and his wife, Jessica Moretti. Officials are looking into whether negligence played a role in last week’s deadly fire at their bar, Le Constellation.

By Meg Felling

January 9, 2026

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland leaders push back on Trump’s calls for US control of the island: ‘We don’t want to be Americans’

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Greenland’s leadership is pushing back on President Donald Trump as he and his administration call for the U.S. to take control of the island. Several Trump administration officials have backed the president’s calls for a takeover of Greenland, with many citing national security reasons.

“We don’t want to be Americans, we don’t want to be Danes, we want to be Greenlanders,” Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and four party leaders said in a statement Friday night, according to The Associated Press. Greenland, a self-governing Danish territory and a longtime U.S. ally, has repeatedly rejected Trump’s statements about U.S. acquiring the island.

Greenland’s party leaders reiterated that the island’s “future must be decided by the Greenlandic people.”

“As Greenlandic party leaders, we would like to emphasize once again our wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends,” the statement said.

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TRUMP SAYS US IS MAKING MOVES TO ACQUIRE GREENLAND ‘WHETHER THEY LIKE IT OR NOT’

Greenland has rejected the Trump administration’s push to take over the Danish territory. (Thomas Traasdahl/Ritzau Scanpix / AFP via Getty Images; Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump was asked about the push to acquire Greenland on Friday during a roundtable with oil executives. The president, who has maintained that Greenland is vital to U.S. security, said it was important for the country to make the move so it could beat its adversaries to the punch.

“We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not,” Trump said Friday. “Because if we don’t do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we’re not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.”

Trump hosted nearly two dozen oil executives at the White House on Friday to discuss investments in Venezuela after the historic capture of President Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.

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“We don’t want to have Russia there,” Trump said of Venezuela on Friday when asked if the nation appears to be an ally to the U.S. “We don’t want to have China there. And, by the way, we don’t want Russia or China going to Greenland, which, if we don’t take Greenland, you can have Russia or China as your next-door neighbor. That’s not going to happen.” 

Trump said the U.S. is in control of Venezuela after the capture and extradition of Maduro. 

Nielsen has previously rejected comparisons between Greenland and Venezuela, saying that his island was looking to improve its relations with the U.S., according to Reuters.

A “Make America Go Away” baseball cap, distributed for free by Danish artist Jens Martin Skibsted, is arranged in Sisimiut, Greenland, on March 30, 2025. (Juliette Pavy/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

FROM CARACAS TO NUUK: MADURO RAID SPARKS FRESH TRUMP PUSH ON GREENLAND

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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday that Trump’s threats to annex Greenland could mean the end of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

“I also want to make it clear that if the U.S. chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. Including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War,” Frederiksen told Danish broadcaster TV2.

That same day, Nielsen said in a statement posted on Facebook that Greenland was “not an object of superpower rhetoric.”

Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen stands next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen during a visit to the Danish Parliament in Copenhagen on April 28, 2025. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

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White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller doubled down on Trump’s remarks, telling CNN in an interview on Monday that Greenland “should be part of the United States.”

CNN anchor Jake Tapper pressed Miller about whether the Trump administration could rule out military action against the Arctic island.

“The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously Greenland should be part of the United States,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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What Canada, accustomed to extreme winters, can teach Europe

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Euronews spoke to Patrick de Bellefeuille, a prominent Canadian weather presenter and climate specialist, on how Europe could benefit from Canada’s long experience with snowstorms. He has been forecasting for MétéoMédia, Canada’s top French-language weather network, since 1988.

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