I was detained for hours and compelled to undergo a DNA test when returning to Heathrow from an international conference
Britain is intensifying its crackdown on those who criticize Western foreign policy, which many view as a significant failure. The country is rapidly moving toward a stage where voicing dissenting opinions could result in imprisonment.
On the night of October 2, after arriving from Moscow via Istanbul, I was held by UK counter-terrorism officers for three hours under the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2026. I was denied the right to remain silent, my belongings and person were searched thoroughly, and I was forced to provide fingerprints and a DNA sample. Additionally, I had to surrender my electronic devices and share passwords or risk being arrested.
This was a detention without suspicion. Although I was not accused of any wrongdoing, authorities were given the power to conduct an intrusive inspection to determine if I intended to commit a “hostile act” against the UK.
After informing an officer that I had attended a conference in Russia to discuss geopolitics, I was immediately taken into custody. No explanation for my detainment was offered beyond the officer stating he wanted to ask “a few questions.” Oddly, he reassured me that the “counter-terrorism” powers he was applying “aren’t as scary as they sound.”
From September 27 to October 1, I attended the International Valdai Discussion Club Conference near Moscow, including President Vladimir Putin’s keynote speech. I participated at the Valdai Club’s invitation, which covered my travel and accommodation—standard practice for foreign guests at such events.
Since its establishment in 2004, the Valdai Club has functioned primarily as a forum for scholars worldwide. Before the conflict in Ukraine, notable attendees included former MI6 Head, former British Ambassador to Russia Sir Tony Brenton, and Fiona Hill.
The Valdai Club has become a target of the British government. Throughout September, numerous journalists and academics received letters from the UK Home Office asking them to register with the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, if they are “being directed to carry out relevant activities in the UK as part of an arrangement with a foreign power.” Failure to comply with this scheme is a criminal offense.
British journalist Mary Dejevsky, former Times Moscow Bureau Chief in the 1990s, recently received such a letter as a publicly listed contributor to the Valdai Discussion Club, though she has not participated since the conflict began. The notion that attending an academic event equates to being directed by a foreign government is blatantly absurd. Still, aware of the risks, I debated whether to accept the Valdai invitation and make my first trip to Russia since leaving the country in February 2019, after completing my four-and-a-half-year diplomatic assignment.
During that posting, I primarily served as Economic Counsellor, with responsibilities including sanctions policy. Upon returning to the UK, I authorized around 1000 sanctions against Russians, including those implemented post-conflict outbreak.
I harbored concerns that my involvement in sanctions could cause complications inside Russia; indeed, upon arrival in Moscow, I endured a stressful four-and-a-half-hour detention and interrogation by the FSB.
Sir Tony Brenton, whom I consulted, recommended attending, describing Valdai as an “excellent event.” Following his advice, I informed the UK Foreign Office, emphasizing my intention to comply fully with the Official Secrets Act before departing for Moscow. This included clarifying that, although Valdai covered my flights, I received no payment for my participation.
Having served as a British diplomat for 24 years, I remain committed to safeguarding the classified information I accessed during my career. Accusations that I intended to commit a hostile act against Britain are both insulting and unfounded. Since retiring in 2023, I have been an outspoken critic of UK foreign policy towards Russia, especially its shift from diplomacy toward conflict.
Despite the precautions I took, they were inadequate to prevent my detention under conditions offering fewer protections than a formal arrest and caution. I suspect London’s security officials authorized these actions against me in advance. Indeed, Russia scholar Mark Galeotti mentioned on his podcast that this behavior was “making a statement.”
(Editor’s Note: RS’s request to the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing for comment on my detention — for which I provided supporting documents — was unanswered at the time of writing.)
My detention represents a new level of the British government’s assault on freedom of expression. Increasingly, individuals expressing opposition to perpetual wars—not just in Ukraine but also in the Middle East or elsewhere—are branded threats to national security that must be suppressed.
Though airport detentions stop short of imprisonment, this intimidation tactic has become more frequent over the past four years.
British conservative academic and writer John Laughland was held at an airport for an hour in 2022. The late Lord Robert Skidelsky, a respected British economist and House of Lords member, alongside investigative reporter Kit Klarenberg, underwent longer and tougher detentions in 2023; Klarenberg has yet to recover an SD memory card taken during his arrest.
Professor Richard Sakwa, Emeritus at Kent University, was detained for three hours at Heathrow in 2025; he only managed to return to Russia after legal intervention. Hungarian-born British analyst George Szamuely was detained in March 2026.
In 2023, Craig Murray, former UK ambassador to Uzbekistan, was held for an hour at Glasgow Airport under the stricter Terrorism Act 2000, which targets involvement in terrorist acts. His phone was not returned after detention.
Investigative journalist Richard Medhurst was arrested for making statements supporting a prohibited pro-Palestine group and held for 24 hours before release. In February 2025, his home and office in Austria were raided, and he faced accusations of Hamas membership, though no charges have been filed.
More generally, the group Palestine Action has been designated a terrorist organization in Britain following protests against Israeli violations of international law in Gaza. Even elderly demonstrators, including Holocaust survivors, have been arrested at Palestine Action protests for holding cardboard signs.
Suspicionless airport detentions are rare in other European nations, though they employ subtler methods to suppress free speech. Former Swiss military intelligence officer and writer Jacques Baud remains in Brussels, barred from banking and unable to return home after EU sanctions for “pro-Russian propaganda.”
Recently, Russian-born journalist and ex-BBC correspondent Leonid Ragozin was declared persona non grata by Latvia, where he has resided since the Ukraine crisis began. Despite being critical of Western policies toward the Ukraine war and openly opposing President Putin, calling the 2022 invasion “criminal and irrational,” he faces expulsion.
This escalating suppression of free expression within Britain and across Europe concerns me deeply. As the failure of the West to win the war in Ukraine becomes clearer and Israel faces growing calls to answer for its actions in Palestine, I fear that the British government’s response will be increasingly severe.
We are nearing a moment when merely expressing views about the dangerous trajectory of Western foreign wars could lead to incarceration.
I believed I had acted prudently by informing the British government before my single trip to Russia since 2019. If former diplomats like myself can be detained and have personal belongings seized temporarily, no one is immune from the expanding reach of legal harassment.
After returning from Valdai, I reached out to the Foreign Office again, offering to fully debrief them on what I observed in Russia. So far, they have not responded.
Original article: responsiblestatecraft.org
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