At London's Gatwick Airport, while trying to leave the UK, police arrested a suspect in spying for Russia. This happened on Monday, but it became known only on Wednesday, June 15, according to BBC News. While the investigation is ongoing, he will remain in the custody of the London police.

The name of the suspect, his citizenship and other details have not yet been disclosed. It is known that this is a man aged a little over 40 years. His detention at the airport was carried out by the counter-terrorism unit of Scotland Yard, The Times newspaper writes .

In recent years, several high-profile spy scandals have erupted between the UK and Russia. In 2006, former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko died in London from radioactive polonium poisoning. London claims to have been poisoned with polonium-210 at a meeting with FSO officer Andrey Lugovoi on November 1, 2006. Russia denies involvement in Litvinenko's death.

In 2018, GRU officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter convicted in Russia for treason were poisoned in Salisbury. The British authorities concluded that this operation was organized by the Russian special services, and charged several of their employees with this crime.

A joint investigation by The Bellingcat and The Insider found that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected by Britain of poisoning the Skripals, are members of the Russian special services. It was also possible to establish their identities. "Ruslan Boshirov" turned out to be Colonel of the GRU and "Hero of Russia" Anatoly Chepiga. And “Alexander Petrov” is a military doctor Alexander Mishkin, also an employee of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces (formerly the GRU).