A suspected Russian spy who claims he worked for MI6 and met Prince Charles and Prince William was allowed onto evacuation flight from Afghanistan to Britain despite security services warning of the risks if he re-entered the UK.
The alleged spy – who also claims to have worked for the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ – is said to have gained access to ‘top secret’ documents.
He obtained both Russian and British citizenship and worked under prime ministers Gordon Brown and David Cameron, a court heard.
He also met Prince Charles and Prince William when he made visits to Afghanistan while working for the Foreign Office in the late 2000s.
Having first been granted asylum in the UK by lying that he was fleeing the Taliban in Afghanistan, he was told in 2019 that spying allegations meant he was considered a national security risk and he was having his British citizenship removed.
But just two years later, in 2021, he was allowed onto one of the last flights out of Kabul during the Taliban takeover, a court heard, as reported by The Times.
He was arrested as soon as he got back in the UK from the war-torn nation.
The alleged spy – who also claims to have worked for the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ – is said to have gained access to ‘top secret’ documents. Pictured: Members of the British and US Armed Forces working at Kabul Airport in 2021
In 2021 he was allowed onto one of the last flights out of Kabul during the Taliban takeover, a court heard, as reported by The Times. Pictured: A US Air Force aircraft takes off from the airport in Kabul in 2021
He also met Prince Charles and Prince William when he made visits to Afghanistan while working for the Foreign Office in the late 2000s. Pictured: The King and Prince of Wales in 2023
In an assessment prior to to his arrival, security services said that had he re-entered Britain ‘there is a real risk that he would undertake activity on behalf of the GRU [Russian military intelligence]’.
A UK government spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘All government departments have thorough security and vetting processes in place.
‘It is longstanding government policy that we do not comment on ongoing legal procedures or individual cases.’
‘We are committed to keeping the British public safe, which is why our National Security Act includes a range of measures to deter states from operating against the UK.
‘It will make working covertly for a foreign hostile power a criminal offence, and increase the number of prosecutions against those who put our national security at risk.’
After the refugee, identified only as C2, arrived in the UK in 2000 the Home Office granted him the right to remain after he suggested he fled Afghanistan directly from the Taliban.
But he is accused of claiming asylum under false pretences, as he previously lived in Russia for six years, the Times reported.
In 2019 he was stripped of his British citizenship and kicked out of the country because MI5 believed he was an agent for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency.
The alleged spy – who also claims to have worked for the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ – is said to have gained access to ‘top secret’ documents. Pictured: The gardens within Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ
Taliban take to the streets during a national holiday celebrating the first anniversary of the takeover on August 15, 2022 in Kabul, Afghanistan
British officials argue that he is a risk to national security if he is let back into Britain.
At a Special Immigration Appeals Commission hearing C2 has admitted lying in his asylum application but vehemently denied any accusations of spying and posing a threat to national security.
C2 admitted in court on Tuesday he exchanged naked pictures of women to Russian military officials before passing them cash bribes, as well as copies of his ID card which he said was not confidential.
MI5 later told him were working for GRU.
Addressing C2, Mr Justice Jay said: ‘I think it is being suggested to you that you would have to be pretty naive to think that someone like him [one of the GRU assets] was not a Russian military agent.’
His barrister Robert Palmer KC emphasised his ‘track record of loyalty to the UK’.
C2 had lived in Russia since 1994 having paid a people smuggler to get him into the country from Afghanistan after the Soviet-backed government fell two years earlier.
Over the next six years he learnt to speak Russian and married a Russian citizen.
He obtained both Russian and British citizenship and worked under prime ministers Gordon Brown (right) and David Cameron (left)
In 2019 he was stripped of his British citizenship and kicked out of the country because MI5 believed he was an agent for the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency.
In 2000 a smuggler bought him a Caribbean holiday package and gave him a fake Russian passport which he used to transit through London Heathrow.
But whilst at the airport he went to Border Force officials and claimed asylum where he lied that he was fleeing from the Taliban.
C2 was given exceptional leave to stay in the UK and after working as a self-employed interpreter for the police, courts and Home Office, he landed a job at GCHQ, the court was told.
He moved back to Afghanistan in the late 2000s while working for the Foreign Office which is where he met royalty and politicians – including the then Prince Charles and heir to the throne Prince William.
C2 claims while there the Pakistani intelligence services, ISI, tried to hire him and were ‘fishing for information’ to ‘find out what weapons we used’.
He stayed and carried on working in the country when his employment ended at the Foreign Office, where he is said to have come into close contact with Russian officials and visited Russia six times.
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