The Russian Lieutenant

by Peter Marshall

  “In case of what?” asked David. “There must be thousands of them, many thousands, I would think. So they must have moved pretty quickly to have connected the news story about Aldanov with Marina’s father in London already. There’s more to this than meets the eye. I think Marina should talk to her father again as soon as possible and try to find out what’s going on. I think she should probably tell the police about this tomorrow, and then perhaps Scotland Yard should talk to Mr. Peters.”

  Marina called the Manns’ home number from David’s office, and Mrs. Mann sounded very welcoming and understanding. She then gave driving instructions to Jeremy, who took Marina down to his car in the underground car park. They left unseen by the waiting reporters who had followed them after the doorstep interview.

  It was about 10 miles from the centre of Portsmouth to the converted farmhouse, and Marina was impressed to see a couple of ponies grazing in the moonlight. Robert and Jennifer Mann heard them arriving up the long drive and were at the front door – actually, it was Rear Admiral Robert Mann, RN retired. It had been ten years since he left active service after a distinguished naval career, finally serving in the Ministry of Defence after commanding an aircraft carrier. Now he was involved mainly in charity work. David Barclay-Smith had recognised the name and address during the discussion in his office and had already phoned him in advance while Jeremy and Marina were en route to explain the situation in more detail. Robert said he was only too happy to “do his bit” to help and looked forward to meeting the woman concerned. He felt sure that the Navy would not have employed her if there had been any doubt about her loyalty – and “any friend of Susie’s is fine with us”.

  The Manns gave them a warm welcome and did not ask any questions. Jeremy left to return home to Portsmouth at the end of a demanding day’s work, promising to return to see Marina the next morning. Jennifer Mann gave their guest a late supper, and they all had a reassuring chat. Marina told them briefly that she was probably a police witness in the story that had been on the news and that because the press were trying to interview her, they had advised her to find somewhere to stay out of the way for the time being. The Admiral said he fully understood, and he encouraged Marina to use their telephone. Although it was now quite late, she briefly rang Betty to thank her for making the arrangement with the Mann family and for helping her to get away from the persistent press.

  At last, Marina relaxed and enjoyed a long sleep in the comfort of a luxuriously furnished and equipped guest bedroom. It did not matter that she had brought only her basic toiletries and nightwear plus a change of clothes for the next day. And it was not until nearly 9 am on the Friday morning that Jennifer Mann tapped on the door with apologies for disturbing her, adding that Jeremy Scott had called to say he was on his way and would be there at about ten.

  That was just about enough time for Marina to prepare for the day ahead and to enjoy a light breakfast in the sunlit kitchen overlooking the Hampshire countryside.

  10.

  “FIND MARINA”

  On the Friday morning, the Daily Star appeared with its front-page splash and the photograph of Marina Peters – “believed to be the woman involved”. The later editions of other daily papers carried more cautious stories based on the official statement. Then the weekly Portsmouth Herald was on the street and in the local newsagents, also with Marina’s name and photograph displayed boldly. They also had the “exclusive” picture of the car leaving the police station, believed to be carrying the Russian. Otherwise, there was little more detail than in the Daily Star, but Gary’s colourful description of the events soon had the whole town talking.

  During the morning, after pressure from the media in London, another short statement was issued by the Foreign Office, releasing the names of the two people involved. It confirmed that the Russian detained in Portsmouth on Wednesday was Nikolai Aldanov, and that he had been taken to London for further questioning by the security services, and that the woman concerned was Marina Peters, a civilian employee in the Royal Navy Commodore’s office in Portsmouth Dockyard. It added that she had been questioned by Portsmouth police regarding her meeting with Aldanov and released pending further inquiries.

  An urgent instruction then went out from all the news editors in London to their reporters assigned to the story: “Find Marina.”

  There was, in fact, very little more for any of the national reporters to go on other than snippets of information from police contacts, brief conversations with one or two Dockyard workers anxious to get in on the act and a few paragraphs of background local information from Gary Andrews and Mike Morrissey – all of which only served to increase the speculation in the stories they wrote that day.

  These few facts took the reporters back to Marina’s home in Southsea – but all they discovered from neighbours was that she had “gone to stay with friends”. But they genuinely had no idea who these friends were, or where they lived.

  The Navy and the local police were saying nothing to the press either, so the reporters continued their search for any friends and colleagues who had ever known her, at her first job in London, at Holloway University and in Portsmouth. Meanwhile, in London, the press, radio and TV correspondents specialising in security matters followed up with their contacts and obtained sufficient information to confirm the involvement of MI5 in questioning the Russian. They were also able to discover through their sources that Nikolai Aldanov was now known to be an agent with the GRU in Moscow.

  All this was enough to develop the story which appeared in various forms in all the media over the weekend. The Sunday papers made the most of it – and “Russian spy” was in the main headline of every report, as well as the “mystery woman”.

  11.

  RUSSIAN CONSULAR VISIT

  Little had been said during the two-hour Thursday morning drive up the A3 from Portsmouth police station back to London and to the headquarters of the MI5 counterintelligence unit by the River Thames. The Russian officer was in the back of the car, handcuffed to one of the two interrogators, repeatedly asking where they were going and demanding to talk to the Russian embassy – and getting no response from his escort.

  When they arrived, the two agents handed the Russian over to a detention officer and they were there in time for the second meeting of the inter-departmental group which had been convened for the early afternoon. This just gave the officers time for a coffee and sandwich and a chance to freshen up before facing their senior management.

  This time, the meeting was chaired by the MI5 Director himself – “M” no less – and he explained how the Foreign Office and Scotland Yard’s National Security department were now involved and why their representatives were also around the table. Thomas Spencer began by congratulating the two agents on the success of their mission in Portsmouth to detain and question the Russian and the woman who met him from his ship. He went on to describe how during the past few weeks, a team of his investigators had been reviewing several hundred pages of correspondence between the Russian and his contact in Portsmouth, together with the photographs they had exchanged. Not only had the messages contained enough information to justify detaining the Russian for seeking to recruit a British national as an informant, but with the help of the photos taken in Portsmouth, the experts in face recognition had now identified him as an experienced officer of the GRU Russian Secret Service and not a serving Naval Lieutenant.

  Then there was also the issue of whether the woman concerned had divulged confidential information, and this aspect was currently being explored in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence and Scotland Yard. Spencer added that much of this information seemed to match closely with the material the two agents had assembled from the interviews conducted in Portsmouth. A small team was assigned to prepare the legal case against Nikolai Aldanov and a timetable for proceeding with a prosecution case.

  “M” confirmed that he was in agreement with the plans so far. The next step was to inform the Russian Embassy, through the offic
ial diplomatic channels of the Foreign Office, that Nikolai Aldanov was now in custody in London, pending charges relating to national security and that he would probably be formally charged in the next few days. One of M’s staff left the room to pass on this instruction, and the meeting was still going on when an immediate response came from the Russian Ambassador. It declared that Aldanov had been detained illegally and demanding his immediate release and consular access to speak to him.

  When the meeting was adjourned, the Home Office legal experts went into an urgent session to consider how to respond. Their meeting of minds was chaired by the head of the legal division, Henry Newbolt, and he took the group through his agenda of the issues facing them.

  First, they considered the claim about detaining the Russian illegally and quickly agreed that this was a red herring which could be easily disregarded and contested if necessary. Moving on, they all agreed that they were uncomfortable with the decision to release the woman involved so early in the proceedings, particularly since the transcripts of the online conversations showed clearly that she had told Aldanov about her Russian ancestry. Had the investigators considered that she may have shared classified information in her messages? Was she really an innocent party caught up in a plan to turn her into an informant by means of a calculated romantic relationship?

  Thirdly, they wanted confirmation that Miss Peters had been reminded that she had signed the Official Secrets Act and would, therefore, be careful with anyone she spoke to, particularly the press.

  Finally, they returned to the decision made to release Miss Peters. Some of the legal minds were clearly uneasy about this. The chairman said that when he had asked this question earlier, he had been told that MI5 regarded Aldanov as the real target of their investigations and that Miss Peters’ most important role now would be as a witness in a future trial of the Russian spy.

  Henry Newbolt closed the meeting and said he would report the legal concerns to the MI5 Director; and he would continue to provide further advice as needed. With all this in mind, he went on to a meeting with the Director to review the options. They agreed that they could not deny Aldanov the opportunity for a consular visit from an official from the Russian Embassy and an interpreter if necessary. Then he would be formally charged with offences under national security regulations and be remanded in custody while the case against him was prepared.

  Meanwhile, the Director made it clear that he supported the decision regarding the release of Miss Peters because they intended to “throw the book” at the Russian agent, who was a valuable asset in the hands of MI5 and MI6. She was their key witness, and they needed her input. They also needed as much time as possible to investigate and grill the Russian.

  The decision to allow consular access to Aldanov was transmitted to the Russian embassy via the Foreign Office, and within a few minutes, a reply was received asking for a location and a time for the meeting, preferably within the next two hours.

  The wheels turned quickly, and just an hour later, a car arrived at the entrance to the MI5 Thameside building, and the two passengers strode inside to the security checking zone. Their credentials were checked, and they were identified as a member of the Russian diplomatic staff and an interpreter. They were expected, of course, and so an officer was waiting in the lobby area to greet them. He took them swiftly by lift to a basement room where Nikolai Aldanov was brought in, without handcuffs, for an initial unsupervised meeting. “You have 15 minutes,” they were told.

  They were all too aware that their discussion would be monitored, no doubt by a Russian-speaking officer in the department, so they were cautious and circumspect, mainly confirming Aldanov’s identity and asking him to describe the circumstances of his detention and whether he had been mistreated in any way. His replies did not reveal anything new to those listening in; he insisted that he was a Russian Navy officer and wanted to resume his duties on his ship as soon as possible and asked for the Embassy’s help. Those listening noted that he did not mention his intended meeting with his contact in the Dockyard, and neither was this mentioned by the Russian interviewing him.

  After the assigned 15 minutes, a senior MI5 officer re-entered the room, together with Thomas Spencer, and the Russian diplomat immediately stood up and proclaimed, “Lieutenant Aldanov is a serving officer of the Russian Navy, and we demand his immediate release and your apologies for the way he has been treated since his ship arrived in the UK. Also, it was contrary to international law for your officers to detain him and to then hold him in custody without stating the offence which he is alleged to have committed.”

  Spencer replied, slowly and carefully through the interpreter, “Your questions have been noted, gentlemen, but this is a matter of national security, and we have reason to believe that Mr. Aldanov was not a serving naval officer as you stated, but is in fact an official with the GRU and that he engaged in activities which may endanger the security of this country. We intend to pursue this matter further, and he will remain in custody until we are ready to proceed with an appropriate charge. Your embassy will be informed through the usual channels, and we have nothing further to say at this time. Good afternoon, gentlemen.”

  At this point, the two MI5 officers marched swiftly out of the room, and the custody officer, who had been waiting at the door, led a protesting Aldanov away to the secure holding cells nearby. The Russian diplomats tried to respond, but their protests were ignored and they were escorted from the building to their waiting car for the short drive back to the embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens.

  There they reported on the meeting to their Ambassador and then prepared a full outline of the situation in a lengthy, strictly confidential message to the head of GRU in Moscow. After describing the position so far, it went on to set out the reasons why they believed that Aldanov had been careless in the execution of his mission and that, as a consequence, his cover as a serving naval officer had been blown. There was nothing further they could do at this stage other than wait to see what action the British might take. Also, in a footnote to the message, they asked why the London bureau of GRU had not been informed in advance about Aldanov’s mission to the UK.

  A swift response came back on the protected and confidential message line: “What do you know about the woman involved? Is she a crucial party in this matter? Please consider ways to contact her and discover whether she will corroborate the story that this was simply the start of a romantic relationship. Also explore a way to discover more about her family connections with Russia.”

  The GRU’s assistant head of station at the London Embassy, who had posed as the interpreter at the meeting at MI5 headquarters, warmed to this idea and replied to Moscow that he would work on it. He went away to discuss the options with his team and began to prepare a plan. It started with a decision to send two of his most experienced agents, a man and a woman, to Portsmouth posing as tourists to explore the situation and with the aim of making contact with Marina Peters.

  12.

  IGOR AND SVETLANA

  It was not only the press and broadcasting reporters who were trying to locate Marina Peters in Portsmouth. On the Thursday evening, the Russian couple despatched from the Embassy arrived in Portsmouth by train, with minimal luggage, and used the GPS map on their iPhone to find their way to Marina’s address in Southsea. It was a long walk, nearly 30 minutes, but it helped them to find their bearings in the city. Nearby, they spotted a large seafront house offering B&B Vacancies – not surprising since it was now October – and the proprietor welcomed them with open arms. Igor and Svetlana said they wanted to stay through the weekend, and she took them up to her best room at £100 per night – including breakfast between 8 and 9 am.

  They quickly checked the wi-fi signal and then agreed to take the room, with twin beds and en suite bathroom – just what they wanted as their base for the next few days. They signed in as Mr. and Mrs. Ericsen from Sweden.

  After settling in, they went out into the cool evening sea-breeze and began t
heir reconnaissance of the area on their way to find a meal. They soon discovered a pizza restaurant and during their meal, they prepared a plan. This began by returning to a busy pub they had passed an hour earlier, where they soon merged with the crowd as they ordered a pint of best bitter and a cider.

  “Where are you from?” asked the barman. They replied, in their heavily accented English, “From Sweden, and this is our first visit in this country outside of London. What goes on here?”

  The group around them at the bar were intrigued by some new faces out of season and more interestingly, from overseas. They soon made them welcome, and between them, they provided a good briefing on places to see – including HMS Victory and the Mary Rose. This led to conversation about the Dockyard, and one of the locals interrupted and said, “Hey, have you seen the news this evening? It’s all been on the telly about a Russian spy in the Dockyard…”

  The two visitors tried not to look too interested, but they encouraged the man to tell them more.

  “Yeh. It’s all happening here,” he continued. “There’s a Russian ship arrived here, and a guy came ashore and was arrested by some spooks from MI5. And there’s a local girl involved, too – it was all on the TV news.”

  Another man in the group chimed in. “They say the girl lives around here. She works for the Navy in the Dockyard and was arrested at the same time. So, she’s probably caught up in the spy thing as well.”

  And a third added to the discussion. “I think I know her. A pal of mine told me about her earlier this evening. He lives in the same block of flats, and he says he thinks I met her there once. A good-looker too – reckon she’s one of those Bond girls, then?”