Migrant return hubs could be hijacked by Russian spies

Times

2 days ago

Sir Keir Starmer is pressing ahead with plans to deport migrants to 'return hubs' in the western Balkans despite an MI6 warning that they could be hijacked by Russian spies.
Security advice from the intelligence service says the region is unsafe for migrant deportation schemes because of its proximity to Russia, government sources have told The Times.
The advice privately warned that the proposals would mean creating sensitive national infrastructure and facilities in 'a Russian sphere of influence' that could be infiltrated and targeted by agents working on behalf of the Kremlin.
Migrants sent to the region could also be targeted and exploited by President Putin's regime, the advice warned.
This month the prime minister confirmed revelations by The Times that the government was in talks with 'a number of countries' about return hubs, which he described as 'a really important innovation'.
Serbia, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are on a shortlist of about nine countries drawn up by ministers and officials as potential destinations to which rejected asylum seekers would be sent after all avenues of appeal have been exhausted in the UK.
Record numbers of migrants are crossing the Channel in small boats to reach Britain
SAMEER AL-DOUMY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Albania had also been on the list but was ruled out by Edi Rama, its prime minister, this month.
A plan for offshore migrant hubs in the Balkans was blocked in light of MI6 concerns when the previous Conservative government drew up a shortlist of countries for a Rwanda-style deportation scheme in 2022.
The list included Albania and Moldova, according to a government official who worked on the proposals.
Separate security sources have said that the same concerns have been raised in response to Starmer's efforts to open return hubs in the region.
A government source who was briefed by security officials warning against the Balkans region said: 'The advice we got was you'd be sending people into a Russian sphere of interest.
'They cited critical UK national infrastructure, facilities and systems that would be set up that could be infiltrated by the Russians by installing agents and other personnel working in the interest of the Kremlin.
'You'd be planting a prime bit of British interest, British real estate, right into an area where Russia has the ability to control and influence much more than other areas in the world.
'The security view was that was not sensible or viable.
'It was based on the evidence that we've seen Russia being willing to use migration as a vehicle to exploit.
'Putting a massive processing site for immigration claims right next to a hostile state was not deemed sensible from a security perspective.'
MI6 is said to be concerned over plans relating to all of the western Balkan nations, according to a security source who pointed out that they are all former states of the communist Yugoslavia regime.
'The concerns are at different stages. Serbia is the worst, some of them are more of a threat than others,' the source said. 'This is the former Yugoslavia — the Russian links are pretty clear.
'There are hundreds of ways that Russia can influence these governments, whether it be digitally, physically, levels of corruption, live proxies by installing pro-Russian figures in governments or inadvertently influencing people to take a Russian frame of mind.
'Russia also uses organised gangs and there is a question about the capacity for these countries' law and order to handle those threats.'
They pointed out that President Vucic of Serbia is a close ally of Putin who has visited Moscow several times in the past year, most recently when he attended Russia's Victory Day parade in Red Square.
Presidents Vucic and Putin at the Kremlin in 2018
MIKHAIL SVETLOV/GETTY IMAGES
Another reason cited by security officials were rules allowing Russian citizens and passport holders to move freely in and out of Serbia, as well as reports of Russian arms being allowed to move freely through the country.
Britain began informal talks over return hubs with several countries, including Kosovo, this week.
President Osmani of Kosovo has said her country would be 'open' to talks over a potential deal to take Britain's failed asylum seekers.
However, experts have warned about the legal hurdles given that several European countries do not recognise the nation's independence and because it is not a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Downing Street is understood to have set a target to announce return hub destinations by the time Britain hosts a meeting of western Balkan leaders in London in the autumn, where illegal migration will be top of the agenda.
However, there is increasing frustration at the centre of government over the lack of progress made by the Home Office on what form it wants return hubs to take.