Russia places UK ex-Defence Minister Ben Wallace on wanted list

Wallace last year recommended helping Ukraine carry out a strike on the bridge linking Russia to annexed Crimea.Russia ‌has placed British former Defence Minister Ben Wallace ⁠on a ⁠wanted list in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation, according to the Russian ⁠Interior Ministry’s database cited by state media.State-run news agency TASS quoted an unnamed source in law enforcement as saying that the investigation was linked to “terrorism-related charges”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3EU, UK sanction Russians over deportations of Ukrainian childrenlist 2 of 3Starmer defiant at cabinet meeting amid growing pressure to resignlist 3 of 3UK’s Starmer faces challenge as resignation calls overshadow king’s speechend of listWallace served as the UK’s defence minister from 2019 – before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in ⁠2022 – until August 2023. He has continued to advocate boosting military support for Kyiv and condemned Russian aggression.In October last year, a regional Russian lawmaker called for Wallace to be put on Russia’s wanted list over comments he made the previous month at the Warsaw Security Forum about Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.On that occasion, Wallace recommended helping Ukraine carry out a military strike on the bridge linking southern Russia to Crimea.“We have to help Ukraine have ⁠the long-range capabilities to make Crimea unviable. We need to choke the ⁠life out of Crimea. And if we ⁠do that, I think [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will realise he’s got something to lose,” he said. “We need to smash the cursed bridge.”Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov at the time described Wallace’s remarks as “stupid”, stressing that Moscow does not consider it necessary to comment on statements by former Western officials.Crackdown on dissentNumerous individuals and groups inside and outside Russia have been prosecuted as the Kremlin has cracked down on dissent concerning its narrative of the war in Ukraine.