Putin 'driving illegal migration to UK in bid to overwhelm border defences', sparking national security fears
Vladimir Putin is using hostile tactics to drive illegal migration to Britain in an attempt to overwhelm border defences and spark division in the UK, security insiders have claimed
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The Russian President's government is allegedly providing fake documents, transport and military escorts to smuggling gangs who take migrants across the Channel.
Sources say said Russia and its close ally Belarus are using these tactics to drive migrant surges on Europe’s eastern front.
It comes as leaders at the NATO summit warned this week of the threat this poses to national security, promoting members to include border protection in spending targets for the first time.
"Hostile states and malign actors are using illegal migration to test borders, cause disruption and destabilise countries like Britain.
Read more: NATO members agree military spending hike - but fail to condemn Russia's war on Ukraine
"That's exactly why Nato is now treating border protection as a core part of collective defence — because the lines between traditional military threats and national security are more blurred than ever," a source told The Sun.
“That’s exactly why Nato is now treating border protection as a core part of collective defence — because the lines between traditional military threats and national security are more blurred than ever,” the source added.
Sir Keir Starmer has previously vowed to end illegal migration by “smashing the criminal gangs”.
Over 18,000 migrants arrived in small boats his year, sparking calls from opposition MPs for the situation to be declared a “national security crisis”.
The Government has said it will set out further reforms to the asylum system and to border security in response to irregular and illegal migration.
It includes plans for new legislation building on the measures already set out in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill currently passing through Parliament.
The Bill aims to introduce new offences and counter-terror-style powers to tackle people smugglers bringing migrants across the English Channel.
Starmer has signalled that countries which did not do enough to tackle the irregular migration crisis, for example by taking back failed asylum seekers, could face repercussions in the numbers of visas issued to their citizens.
He said the situation was “deteriorating” and threatened a visa crackdown after Home Office figures have revealed that 437 people crossed the channel last Friday.
It brought the total number of migrants who have made the journey to 17,817 for the year so far.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced in March that £30 million of funding will go directly to high-impact operations from the Border Security Command to tackle supply chains, illicit finances and trafficking routes across Europe, the Western Balkans, Asia, and Africa.
An additional £3 million will allow the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to boost its capacity to prosecute organised international smugglers and expand its international footprint to support the Border Security Command to pursue, disrupt and arrest those responsible for dangerous people smuggling operations.
More than 8,000 adverts on social media were taken down last year where smugglers were promoting crossings, before moving to encrypted channels.
Some 600 engines were seized and hundreds of people arrested for facilitating journeys in efforts to crack down on smuggling gangs.
Law enforcement agencies trying to break smugglers' business models are believed to have forced up the cost for engines and boats to £14,000 from the low thousands in a bid to make it economically unsustainable to carry on.
Criminal finances will be a focus of discussions, which will look at how to follow the money of smugglers globally and to share approaches from different countries.