A 31-year-old British national has been formally charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service following allegations that he collaborated with Russian military operatives, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) confirmed.
Joshua Cammidge was arrested last Friday by officers from London’s Counter Terrorism Command and Wiltshire Police at a residence in Swindon, southwest England. He was subsequently taken to a London police station as officers executed search warrants at another address in the same town.
On Saturday, Cammidge was detained under the UK’s National Security Act. On Wednesday, prosecutors finalized charges against him, which include conspiring to commit acts of sabotage while receiving instructions from a suspected representative of the GRU Volunteer Corps, an entity linked to Russia’s military intelligence agency.
Cammidge is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday.
Frank Ferguson, Chief Crown Prosecutor for the CPS Special Crime and Counter Terrorism Division, stated that prosecutors determined there was sufficient evidence to proceed to court and that pursuing criminal charges served the public interest.
The GRU Volunteer Corps was designated a national security threat by UK authorities in July due to its collection of foreign intelligence and execution of hostile covert operations on behalf of Russian military spies. Under legislation enacted to counter proxy organizations acting for foreign states, supporting the group is now illegal, with convicted individuals facing up to 14 years in prison.
British officials have historically attributed several hostile activities, including the 2018 Salisbury nerve agent attack and various sabotage and intelligence campaigns across Europe, to the GRU.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis emphasized the government’s resolve, stating that the UK would take “whatever action is necessary” to protect itself from Russian threats. “Anyone attempting to undermine our security will feel the full force of the law,” he said.
Diplomatic relations between the UK and Russia have severely strained since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, prompting British authorities to issue frequent warnings regarding alleged Russian espionage and sabotage. Tensions escalated further last month when Russia issued warnings of potential strikes on British military targets in response to Ukraine’s use of British-supplied long-range missiles.
Fourteen years is a serious sentence, but honestly, it seems almost expected at this point for these types of espionage charges.
The diplomatic tensions are getting really concerning. What happens when accusations fly both ways like this?
Is this the start of more domestic charges? It feels like every few weeks there is another high-profile spy case in the UK.
Fascinating how proxy organizations like the GRU Volunteer Corps are now being targeted directly under new legislation.