Three people with links to Russian military and intelligence sites travelled to stay near top-secret UK air bases where suspicious drones were sighted, The i Paper can reveal.
The revelation raises serious questions about suspected Russian links to the incidents at RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk in November last year.
UK and US officials have been investigating Kremlin involvement in the sightings at the air bases – where the US Air Force houses state-of-the art aircraft and defence technology.
It shows why concerns are growing within Nato over how Vladimir Putin may be emboldened by Donald Trump’s aggressive stance towards Ukraine in peace negotiations.
Senior MPs have now demanded the authorities examine the new evidence after a major investigation using open source information uncovered the suspect visits.
One of the three individuals was just metres from the perimeter of RAF Mildenhall on a day when drones were flown over.
The evidence is based on a database of open-source location data, provided to this newspaper by a former intelligence official who monitors hostile state cyber threat movements.
The investigation reveals:
At least two of the individuals are thought to have worked as seasonal fruit pickers in close proximity to the airbases – visiting fields close to the airbases at night.
Although the evidence is not definitive proof of Russian involvement, one former intelligence officer said fruit picking would be the “perfect cover” for Moscow’s intelligence agents.
Drones have become a useful tool in international espionage as they can be flown into sensitive zones where flights are restricted in order to test the reactions of the authorities. They can also be fitted with specialist surveillance equipment to run reconnaissance missions.
RAF Lakenheath is seen as a highly-sensitive site for both the UK and US as it is a potential location for the storage of US nuclear weapons.
The unmanned aerial devices were first spotted on 20 November, over and in the vicinity of RAF Lakenheath while similar incidents occured over the following two days at RAF Mildenhall, in Suffolk, RAF Feltwell in Norfolk and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
The German military also announced it was investigating suspected Russian espionage after six drone sightings over an airbase in the northern town of Schwesing. Drones entered the restricted airspace above the facility where Ukrainian soldiers are trained on Patriot missile defence systems.
The German military classified the incidents as potential espionage and alerted the intelligence servies, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche.
A month after the UK incursions, drones were spotted over the the largest US Air Force base in the world prompting a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Drones flying around Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio led base officials to shut down the airspace for several hours. While investigations continue, the pilots are still unknown.
Similar sightings occurred in Denmark when around 20 drones were spotted over the port of Koege, southwest of Copenhagen, forcing the country’s domestic intelligence service to investigate the incident. The port opens to the Baltic sea where weeks before secret Russian ships had come under fire for causing damage to undersea cables.
Despite the deployment of 60 British troops, including counter drone specialists, to the affected UK facilities and a Ministry of Defence investigation, nobody has been arrested or charged with carrying out the disruptive activity.
A senior former British military intelligence official who has reviewed the database seen by this newspaper said it suggested significant Russian “grey area activity”. This is a term for espionage operations launched when two countries are neither at peace or direct war. The intelligence official questioned what the UK was doing to monitor and protect sensitive defence sites.
“On initial reflection this is not a surprise, this kind of activity has been prevalent in the UK and Europe for years,” they said. “The real question is where else this activity is occurring, which sensitive areas in HMG’s [Government] operations are under the same threat to external grey area activity.”
The data is available to UK and US officials investigating the drone sightings, The i Paper has been told. A number of senior politicians have now written to the Ministry of Defence urging them to review the evidence.
Julian Lewis, the former Tory Chair of the Defence Select Committee said: “When the US and British authorities detected the drone intrusions at both airbases last November, they stated that investigations were underway.
“Meanwhile, there is credible evidence here of the possible presence of GRU-linked operatives near Lakenheath and Mildenhall.
“I shall be asking Ministers to consolidate the findings of all these investigations and to make a Statement in the Commons as soon as possible.”
Tom Tugendhat, the former Security Minister, said the findings “demand urgent investigation” by the MOD and UK intelligence services.
“Russian intelligence are trying to recruit criminals to carry out sabotage attacks across Europe,” he said. “This strongly suggests emboldened Kremlin activity here in our country.”
In the internet age, our digital footprint has become a useful tool for Governments around the world to identify and neutralise threats. By combing through disparate data sources — financial documents, airline reservations, mobile phone records, social media postings, and location data — they highlight specific individuals who may be of interest to Government agencies.
In recent years this legal methodology has led to controversy around the general public’s privacy, but many private security firms are using the tools for good – to sniff out terrorists, criminals and foreign agents lurking within society.
The i Paper has been talking to a number of companies using this open source information to pick up the footprint of individuals linked to hostile states. By monitoring the data for any overlay with state-linked facilities or actors, analysts can flag potential employees and develop an understanding for their digital signature.
This has become an essential part of modern day intelligence gathering and is a widespread tactic amongst Western Governments. Tapping into vast amounts of cyber data has become so essential to protecting national security that the UK Government has sought new ways to legally retrieve data.
Sources shared the specific information relating to RAF bases with this newspaper in the interest of further protecting national security by raising the public’s awareness to the scale of suggested foreign interference in the UK.
Evidence of potential Russian links to the drone sightings comes after the Royal Navy was forced to escort a Russian spy ship out of UK waters last month after it was spotted sailing through the North Sea.
The Defence Secretary John Healey said the vessel, Yantar, was used for gathering intelligence and mapping the UK’s critical underwater infrastructure. He said the incident was “another example of growing Russian aggression”.
Healey added: “I also wanted President [Vladimir] Putin to hear this message: we see you, we know what you’re doing and we will not shy away from robust action to protect this country.”
Following a year of hybrid attacks from Russia across Europe, the new evidence could highlight further methods used by the Kremlin to surveil and disrupt military operations in the West.
In the months preceding the drone sightings, two of the individuals who are believed to have flown to the UK from Russian military and intelligence facilities appear to have stayed at a caravan park for foreign fruit pickers situated nearby to the British air bases.
UK agriculture relies on migrant fruit pickers arriving on seasonal visas to harvest crops, especially during the summer months. The pandemic and Brexit have left the farming industry facing labour shortages, and last year the UK government issued over 45,000 seasonal worker visas.
Matthew Dunn, a former MI6 intelligence officer with experience in field operations and the recruitment and running of “agents” said working as fruit pickers would provide a “perfect cover” which is indicative of Russian intelligence tradecraft.
He said: “If you are going to be operating in a rural area such as that part of Suffolk then you need to look the part, and taking on a cover of a fruit picker makes perfect sense,
“If I am in GRU headquarters thinking I want to deploy two or three people who can then go and casually conduct surveillance of the perimeter of these high security, sprawling air bases then fruit picking is a perfect cover for that,
“These are quite literally grey people and they’re there en masse,” he added. “It is very simple, but simple is often the best way.”
The location database shows the individuals spent many days and weeks moving through nearby fields in a manner to suggest they were working as fruit pickers during the week and visiting fields close to the airbases at night or during the weekends.
The i Paper visited the sites where the individuals had been to try and establish their identity. A manager at the caravan park said they take in the majority of their workers from Central Asia on six month contracts via the government scheme. They said their fruit pickers would not be working in fields close to the RAF bases but admitted it was difficult to track who is coming in and out of the site at all times.
It cannot be confirmed that the individuals were employed to pick fruit and there is no suggestion of illegal or improper activity by any company or farm where the individuals may have worked.
The first individual was linked to the Russian Embassy in Berlin. The German diplomatic post has been the cause of controversy in recent years and a useful European hub for Russian spies.
In 2023, a security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin was found to have passed secrets to Russian diplomats in the city. David Ballantyne Smith was caught in an undercover MI5 operation after passing the names, addresses and phone numbers of colleagues, along with documents and information about security passes to the Russian embassy in Germany.
The second individual who is believed to have moved around the RAF bases weeks before the drone sightings was linked to a highly-secretive base belonging to Russia’s main intelligence agency, the GRU.
Officials from the GRU have been linked to a number of espionage operations across Europe and the US. The unit, first revealed publicly in 2019, has been associated with foreign assassinations and destabilising operations in European countries.
The individual in question is linked to a Moscow-based facility of the GRU specialising in surveillance operations. Very little is known about the highly secretive unit, but experts with knowledge of the database say the unit is focused on technological development and research for military intelligence purposes.
The third individual was linked to Russia’s largest military facility outside of its borders. Headquartered in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the Russian 201st Military Base is primarily responsible for commanding the majority of Russian ground units operating in Central Asia.
The military base comprises motor rifle, armoured, artillery and reconnaissance units, air defence forces, radiation, chemical and biological protection and signal troops.
Martin Melia, a former British Army Lieutenant Colonel with a background in Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) operations, viewed the data which he said showed “compelling” evidence of Russian “influence activity” designed to “demonstrate their ability to operate freely within a Nato country”.
He said: “Operating against US bases in the UK is also a “two-for-one” bargain and could have been designed to also foster tensions between US Forces Europe and UK MOD.
“It forced both the UK and USAF to react in a demonstrable manner, which had the dual impact of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars/pounds, whilst also potentially disrupting routine flight training and operations. But ultimately, an operation like this is all about sending a message. It may be that this evidence provides a vital missing piece of that picture and should therefore be treated accordingly.”
The US Air Force revealed that the drones were “small unmanned aerial systems” which “ranged in size/configuration”. Melia said that small commercially available drones may have been deployed “in a harassing manner” to pressure test the Flight Restriction Zone over the bases, while a more bespoke drone fitted with thermal cameras or radiological detection systems could have conducted surveillance.
“This is an Influence Activity,” he said. “Surveillance is unlikely to have been the primary purpose, although there is clearly some benefit, but if you want to understand what the enemy is capable of fire blindly in their direction and gauge their reaction.”
The revelations renew concerns over the Kremlin’s ability to recruit those living in Britain to help with their activities .
While the full activities of the three individual is still unclear, any interactions between Russian intelligence and those already living in Britain is a line of enquiry in the investigation into the drone incursions – this newspaper has learned.
Intelligence sources are alarmed over the success of Russian intelligence recruitment of those living in Britain. Motivated by money, ideology or coercion, low-level criminals are feared to have carried out acts for Russian intelligence.
Using criminals allows the GRU to generate attacks which are hard to attribute, and even harder to stop.
In October MI5’s Director General Ken McCallum spelled out the threat posed by Russia using third parties to do “their dirty work”.
He stated that Russia is on a “sustained mission” to create “mayhem” using “criminals as proxies – from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks” to carry out sabotage, espionage and murder operations in the UK.
McCallum warned: “The more eye-catching shift this year has been Russian state actors turning to proxies for their dirty work, including private intelligence operatives and criminals from both the UK and third countries.”
Despite the deployment of 60 British troops, including counter drone specialist, to the affected UK facilities and a Ministry of Defence investigation, nobody has been arrested or charged with carrying out the disruptive activity.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “We will not be offering a running commentary on operational security matters, however the public can rest assured that we take threats seriously and maintain robust measures at defence sites.”
A US Air Forces Europe Spokesperson said: “We can confirm that small unmanned aerial systems were spotted in the vicinity of and over RAF Lakenheath, RAF Mildenhall, and RAF Feltwell between Nov 20 and 22. The number of UASs fluctuated and they ranged in size/configuration. The UASs were actively monitored and installation leaders determined that none of the incursions impacted base residents or critical infrastructure.
“To protect operational security, we do not discuss our specific force protection measures but retain the right to protect the installation. We continue to monitor our airspace and are working with host-nation authorities and mission partners to ensure the safety of base personnel, facilities and assets.”
by Richard Holmes
Russia has a long and well-reported history of running intelligence operations on UK soil. Working under the Kremlin’s orders, agents have contaminated London with radioactive isotopes, spread deadly toxins around rural England, and conspired to cause chaos to critical services.
The UK government has often been criticised for being too reactive to these threats – it took over eight years to launch a public inquiry into the death of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko. Undoubtedly, hard-working men and women in our intelligence agencies use every possible minute to keep the UK safe from hostile states. But the directive has often not been met by those in Westminster.
Now, the news that Russian operators may have also been responsible for a series of drone incursions over RAF bases highlights how Putin, emboldened by a history of weak response from the West, continues to gnaw away at the UK’s national security defences.
At least three individuals with links to Russian diplomatic, intelligence and military complexes came to the UK, visited sites close to the airbases, and flew back to Russian facilities in the period before and during the drone sightings. The full identity of the individuals linked to the location data is not yet known.
The bases, inhabited by US air force personnel, are of significant importance. Not least because they house highly-advanced US military equipment, but also because they represent the strategically important relationship between the UK and its closest ally.
This relationship has been placed under strain after a revamp of US foreign policy towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The past week has seen Donald Trump and his staff openly criticise Europe’s weak position, citing lines straight from the Kremlin script to lambast the region’s ability to defend itself.
The work of Putin’s emboldened intelligence machine will test the resilience of the UK’s “special relationship” with its American cousin.
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