UK offers Russian officials British citizenship to defect and pass secrets to MI6

Russian officials appalled by the war in Ukraine are being offered British citizenship to defect and pass secrets to UK intelligence agencies.

Three UK intelligence sources and a former Russian informant have told i that British citizenship and cash payments are being used by UK government agencies in certain circumstances to persuade disgruntled members of Vladimir Putin’s regime to hand information to the UK. 

It comes after the head of MI6 last year issued a public plea to Russians angry with the invasion to “join hands” with the UK and “share secrets” to help end the war in Ukraine.

he death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has further isolated Putin from the West, with UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron and his counterparts at this week’s G20 summit declaring that Russia was responsible for the “murder” of the Kremlin critic. 

As Putin is accused of wiping out his fiercest critic, and the war in Ukraine approaches its two-year anniversary, pressure has grown on British intelligence to gather information against the Russian president.

The use of citizenship to reward informants has been in place since at least the Cold War, illustrated by the case of well-known Russian defectors such as Oleg Gordievsky. But i has established that the tactic has been in use since the invasion of Ukraine, with official sources accepting that it is no longer confidential. 

To protect ongoing operations and national security, i has kept further details it has uncovered out of this reporting. Extensive measures have been taken to weigh national security and ensure that it is not harmed by this story. 

British citizenship is often the most powerful method of persuasion at the hands of the UK government agencies, sources said. However, this would only be promised when it has been determined that an individual can be trusted, and then given once they are either no longer needed or no longer able to glean information from their position in Russia. 

One intelligence source told i that potential informants are offered British citizenship in return for valuable information, while another said the use of citizenship was a “key tool” to convince people to hand over their secrets. 

A third source said: “If you’re trying to persuade someone to spy for you, depending on their motives for doing so, there is always the prospect that eventually that person may want, or have, to leave their home country and settle in the West. 

“An offer of eventual British citizenship once settled here could be part of that.” 

They said seeking informants remains a “key part” of the MI6 business model, adding that “disenchantment with their government is not the only motive for individuals to agree to spy for us.”

A fourth source, a Russian informant who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that British citizenship is an “important incentive” to persuade informants to speak to the intelligence agencies. 

“It implies that at some point the source can become a fully-fledged Briton… the individual and possibly even their family can enjoy an undisturbed life in Britain at some point in the future,” they told i. “It might help a Russian individual to know in the back of their minds they are acting in the interest of their future home country.” 

During his speech last July, MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore – known as ‘C’- urged Russians appalled by Putin’s actions in Ukraine to switch sides, announcing that “others have already” done so since the start of the war.  

“I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us,” he said. “We will handle their offers of help with the discretion and professionalism for which my service is famed.” 

Sir Richard sought to reassure potential dissidents that their “secrets will always be safe with us” and stressed that “loyalty to our agents is lifelong”.  

A Russian state television channel broadcast by Russian spy-turned-MP Maria Butina later broadcast his speech, accusing the MI6 chief of employing “cheap recruiting methods” and labelling his plea as a “shameless provocation”.

Following the broadcast, Sir Richard tweeted that the British foreign intelligence agency had been “puzzling over how to get my message to our target audience in Russia – we never thought Russian state TV would step in to help.” He added: “Thanks folks.”

One of the sources i spoke to said Sir Richard’s carefully worded speech was aimed to “offer a branch” and appeal to potential informants’ indignation rather than financial interests.