Declassified UK - Intel Issue 96 - Week to 16 March 2023

Posted: 16th March 2023

DCUK-INTEL

Weekly public intelligence brief on UK foreign & security policies:

For members of Declassified UK only

MIDDLE EAST

Qatar

• The UK and Qatar agreed to extend joint Typhoon operations, which began in June 2020 as the first joint squadron in the RAF since World War II. The dictatorial regime in Qatar is accused of financing terrorism in the Middle East.

United Arab Emirates

• United Arab Emirates (UAE) trade minister Dr Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi warned that the UK government must stay silent on human rights abuses as not to scupper potential trade deals. He said that the UK and other Western countries must “separate politics from trade and the economy” and “tone down” standard human and workers’ rights provisions within trade deals.

Saudi Arabia

• Saudi Arabia executed Jordanian citizen Hussein Abo Al-Kheir, who said he had been tortured for 12 days into signing a false confession, despite interventions from the UN and two British foreign ministers. Christ Bryant MP said that: “It seems the UK is far too reluctant to speak out on human rights issues in the Gulf states”.

Israel

• The UK, France, and a dozen EU members called on Israel to halt its evictions of houses across East Jerusalem. However, the UK government has not threatened to take any meaningful action, such as imposing sanctions or an arms embargo.

Syria

• The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) refused to say whether it has looked into claims that civilians were injured in an RAF drone strike conducted in northern Syria in December 2022.

ASIA

China

• UK prime minister Rishi Sunak defended his policy of continuing to engage with China despite his claim that Xi Jinping’s “increasingly authoritarian” administration poses an “epoch-defining challenge” to the global order.
• The UK government’s latest defence review will address China’s threat to Taiwan for the first time, it was reported.
• It was revealed that the UK government “approved a sharp increase in exports of submarine parts and technology last year to Taiwan as it upgrades its naval forces”, in a move that is likely to offend the Chinese government.
• The UK government announced increased funding “to further boost skills and knowledge for government staff on China” such as “on economic and military police as well as Mandarin language skills”.
• After GCHQ identified “risks to sensitive information”, the UK government reportedly decided to ban the app TikTok from government devices.
• It was announced that “UK organisations and businesses will receive expert security advice from the new National Protective Security Authority within MI5 to help them counter risks from hackers”.
• The Chinese government accused the UK, US, and Australia of “going further down [a] dangerous road” following the signing of a submarine pact which will “deliver nuclear-powered submarines to Canberra”.

India

• British citizen Jagtar Singh Johal was detained in India in November 2017 after an alleged tipoff from UK intelligence to the Indian security services. He says he was then tortured. Newly filed court papers reveal that the Foreign Office has asked these claims “to be examined in a secret court”.

Sri Lanka

• Declassified revealed that a former SAS commander whose mercenary business in Sri Lanka is under investigation for war crimes has left a fortune worth £4m in his will. This raises questions about how much the mercenary, Colonel Henry ‘Jim’ Johnson, was paid by the Sri Lankan government.

AFRICA

Libya

• It was found that a former suspect in the Manchester Arena bombing, Mohammed Soliman, “had his British citizen revoked and then returned after MI5 changed its view of his role in the attack”.

Rwanda

• UK home secretary Suella Braverman is expected to visit Rwanda to meet the Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta “to discuss the pending implementation of a controversial deal that seeks to control illegal immigration in the UK”.

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EUROPE

Russia/Ukraine

• UK defence secretary Ben Wallace accused Russia of acting “unprofessionally” following the downing of a $32m US Reaper drone in the Black Sea “after it was harassed by two Russian fighter jets”. Wallace said: “The key here is that all parties respect international airspace; we urge the Russians to do so too”.
• Declassified revealed that former Russian president Boris Yeltsin privately supported NATO expansion during the 1990s. Declassified British files show that Yeltsin repeatedly told his Western counterparts that he was “not against” NATO expansion.
• Declassified also found how a traitor at the heart of MI6 was sabotaging CIA and MI6’s covert operations in support of anti-communist guerrillas in Ukraine during the Cold War, “feeding back their positions to Stalin, who ruthlessly rounded them up”.

France

• The UK and France committed to greater defence cooperationat the UK-France summit in Paris, “with new initiatives to advance the already strong military relationship between the two nations” such as continued support for Ukraine.

AMERICAS

Argentina

• Newly declassified files revealed “confusion, delays and missed opportunities” to save UK troops who were onboard the Sir Galahad during the Falklands War. The ship was bombed by Argentine forces, killing 48 people.

United States

• Sunak flew to the US “to discuss key details of a new defence agreement with his Australian and US counterparts”. The defence agreement will focus on “China’s threat in the Indo-Pacific region”.
• Sunak also announced that he will invite US president Joe Biden to Belfast for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement.

AUSTRALIA

• It was announced in the UK government’s new “integrated review” that: “From 2027, the US and UK will… base a small number of nuclear submarines in Perth, Western Australia”.

MILITARY

• The UK government said that it will spend an extra £5bn on its military “to counter intensifying threats from China and Russia”, and aim to lift defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
• The MoD asked contractors “to come up with new ways for combat engineers to destroy bridges” such as AI-powered robots, in order to better fight major powers such as Russia.
• It was revealed that “the use of private investigators and corporate spies in multimillion-pound legal battles has become increasingly prevalent in the UK”. These investigators are often former spies, servicemen, or police officers.

CLIMATE

• It was found that the UK government “has given £20bn more in support to fossil fuel producers than those of renewables since 2015”.
• Two of the UK’s largest pension funds will vote against the renewal of top directs at BP and Shell at their annual meetings “unless both companies strengthen commitments to tackling carbon emissions”, it was reported.

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