‘Russian spy’ who worked for government loses appeal to keep ­British citizenship

A SUSPECTED Russian spy who worked for the UK Government has lost an appeal to keep his ­British citizenship.

The Afghan, who came here in 2000 as an asylum-seeker, acted as an escort to prime ministers and senior royals including Prince William.

Known only as C2 in court documents, he worked for both the Home Office, as a linguist, and the Foreign Office and also claimed to work for intelligence agencies MI6 and GCHQ — although this has been neither confirmed nor denied.

In 2019 he was handed a notice at the British Embassy in Afghanistan stating that the Home Office had taken away his British citizenship because he was deemed to be “an agent of the Russian Military Intelligence Service (GRU) and posed a threat to UK national security”.

In a judgement ruling, Mr Justice Jay said he had displayed “a quite extraordinary degree of enterprise, resource and – on occasion – bravery” in his work.

He had started from “rock-bottom” after arriving in the UK as an asylum seeker and “built up a remarkable career making full use of his extravagant linguistic skills, personal charm and keen intellect.

He was approached by the Home Office in around 2006 to work as a linguist, beginning his career with the UK Government.

He later worked with the Afghan government in 2011, which “inevitably brought him into contact with Russian officials”.

Following a four-day appeal in February, Mr Justice Jay said reasons could not be given publicly due to national security concerns.

In a ruling against his tribunal appeal on his citizenship, Mr Justice Jay called the 50-year-old — married to a Russian — “highly intelligent, quick-witted and cunning”.

He said the Home Office’s conclusion that C2 was a GRU agent is “amply justified” and dismissed C2’s appeal.