To judge by the way Moscow reacted to the latest allegations concerning its involvement in the Salisbury poisoning, it seems the Kremlin believes it can get away with just about anything – including the use of a deadly nerve agent on the streets of an English cathedral city.
That was certainly the impression given by the two GRU military intelligence officers when they appeared on Russian television to refute claims that they were responsible for carrying out the attack on Russian defector Sergei Skripal.
In what must count as the most unconvincing performance delivered in the history of modern espionage, the pair provided a laughable justification for their presence in Salisbury at the precise time the poisoning took place, claiming they had made the two-day round trip from Moscow purely to marvel at the spectacle of the cathedral's 123-metre-high spire.
As the old saying goes, you can fool some of the people some of the time, but when it comes to this crass and clumsy exercise in seeking exoneration from such a heinous criminal act, the GRU men’s performance was totally lacking in conviction.
It is now said in intelligence circles that the only reason the pair made the television appearance was to punish them for breaking the cardinal rule of espionage – don’t get caught.
That said, I doubt anyone in the Kremlin or anywhere else in Russia’s sprawling intelligence establishment is unduly concerned by this turn of events. The likelihood of the two accused standing trial in an English court is zero and, from a Russian point of view, the mission was a success. The GRU might not have succeeded in killing Mr Skripal but it is very unlikely he will trouble the Russians again.
Nor should the fact that the intelligence agency has emerged as the main culprit in the Salisbury affair come as much of a surprise. An elite paramilitary unit within the Russian military, the GRU is the spearhead of the Kremlin’s global attempt to sow political discord and instability around the globe, with its primary target being western democracies.
The organisation has been implicated in seeking to influence the outcome of elections in America and Europe and dedicates a great deal of its effort to looking for ways to undermine western institutions such as the EU and Nato, which it regards as constituting a threat to Moscow’s global ambitions.
Apart from Salisbury, another of the GRU’s more audacious plots was its involvement in the attempted assassination of Montenegro’s pro-western prime minister in 2016.
The agency is also very active closer to home, especially in Syria, where it has been in the vanguard of Russia’s military intervention to prop up Bashar Al Assad. Working closely with their Syrian and Iranian intelligence counterparts, GRU officers have played a vital role in identifying and eliminating Syrian rebel groups.
And with the Syrian conflict in its final death throes, Russian President Vladimir Putin must have been quietly congratulating himself on a job well done.
Until, that is, this week's disastrous incident in which a Russian Illyushin Il-20 transport aircraft was shot down by Syrian government forces using – irony of ironies – a Russian-made anti-aircraft missile system.
When I wrote last week that the uneasy alliance between Russia and Iran in Syria could soon spell trouble for Mr Putin, I had no idea that this would manifest itself so quickly, and with such terrible consequences for the 15 people on board the aircraft who lost their lives.
For the accident was the direct result of the conflicting objectives between Moscow and Tehran over their role in the Syrian conflict.
Russia’s primary goal is to prop up the Assad regime so that it can maintain its own military presence in the eastern Mediterranean. The Iranians, by contrast, see the survival of the Assad regime as an opportunity to broaden their military presence in the country, thereby enhancing their ability to confront Israel.
As the Kremlin enjoys a cosy relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Russians have always had mixed feelings about Iran’s agenda.
And now, with the shooting down of one of their aircraft over Syria, the Russians find themselves caught in the crosshairs of the deepening hostility between Israel and Iran over the latter's growing presence in Syria.
For the Russian aircraft was shot down at the same time as Israeli F-16 warplanes were attacking a Syrian military facility near Latakia that the Israelis claim was being used by Iran to stockpile missiles ultimately destined for Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia based in southern Lebanon. The Syrians thought they were firing at the Israelis but instead managed to shoot down an aircraft belonging to their Russian allies.
Mr Putin's discomfiture about the difficult position he now faces in Syria was evident in the comments he made following the incident, in which he sought to defuse tensions by stating a "tragic chain of circumstances" had led to the loss of the aircraft.
Despite the fact Russia and Iran are allies in Syria, Mr Putin has no desire to provoke a rift with Israel. For a start, many of the powerful oligarchs who keep him in power have Israeli citizenship and they would not take kindly to any fallout between the Kremlin and Israel.
Which means that, sooner or later, Mr Putin will have to decide between maintaining cordial relations with Israel or carrying on with his flirtation with the ayatollahs.
For a man who believes he can get away with anything, from using nerve agents on English streets to keeping reviled dictators in power in Damascus, Mr Putin is about to have a rude awakening.
Con Coughlin is the Daily Telegraph’s defence and foreign affairs editor
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday (UAE kick-off times)
Atalanta v Juventus (6pm)
AC Milan v Napoli (9pm)
Torino v Inter Milan (11.45pm)
Sunday
Bologna v Parma (3.30pm)
Sassuolo v Lazio (6pm)
Roma v Brescia (6pm)
Verona v Fiorentina (6pm)
Sampdoria v Udinese (9pm)
Lecce v Cagliari (11.45pm)
Monday
SPAL v Genoa (11.45pm)
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
BMW M5 specs
Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor
Power: 727hp
Torque: 1,000Nm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh650,000
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
Tips for entertaining with ease
· Set the table the night before. It’s a small job but it will make you feel more organised once done.
· As the host, your mood sets the tone. If people arrive to find you red-faced and harried, they’re not going to relax until you do. Take a deep breath and try to exude calm energy.
· Guests tend to turn up thirsty. Fill a big jug with iced water and lemon or lime slices and encourage people to help themselves.
· Have some background music on to help create a bit of ambience and fill any initial lulls in conversations.
· The meal certainly doesn’t need to be ready the moment your guests step through the door, but if there’s a nibble or two that can be passed around it will ward off hunger pangs and buy you a bit more time in the kitchen.
· You absolutely don’t have to make every element of the brunch from scratch. Take inspiration from our ideas for ready-made extras and by all means pick up a store-bought dessert.
Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
What are the GCSE grade equivalents?
- Grade 9 = above an A*
- Grade 8 = between grades A* and A
- Grade 7 = grade A
- Grade 6 = just above a grade B
- Grade 5 = between grades B and C
- Grade 4 = grade C
- Grade 3 = between grades D and E
- Grade 2 = between grades E and F
- Grade 1 = between grades F and G
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
