Russia Places Ben Wallace on Wanted List Over Terrorism Case
Russia has placed ben wallace, the former UK defence minister, on a wanted list in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation. State-run news agency TASS, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, said the case is linked to terrorism-related charges.
Wallace served as the UK’s defence minister from 2019 until August 2023. He has kept pressing for stronger military support for Kyiv and has condemned Russian aggression, a posture that has made him a recurring target for Russian criticism.
Wallace comments on Crimea
Wallace drew Moscow’s attention in October last year after remarks he made the previous month at the Warsaw Security Forum about Crimea. He recommended helping Ukraine carry out a military strike on the bridge linking southern Russia to Crimea, and he said: “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,”
Wallace added: “We need to smash the cursed bridge.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov called those remarks “stupid” at the time, and a regional Russian lawmaker later called for Wallace to be put on Russia’s wanted list.
Russia’s expanding legal reach
The move lands in a wider pattern of Russian cases aimed at critics and opponents tied to the war in Ukraine. In 2024, Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing authorities to confiscate the assets of people convicted of spreading deliberately false information about the military, including offences such as justifying terrorism and spreading fake news about the military.
Last year, Russia’s Federal Security Service opened a criminal case against exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him of creating a terrorist organisation and plotting to violently seize power. Khodorkovsky responded by describing Russia as a “fully fledged totalitarian dictatorship” and saying he would “fight for a Russia governed by the rule of law and political pluralism”.
Karim Khan and Moscow
Moscow has also used arrest warrants against other figures who crossed its legal red lines. In 2023, Russian authorities issued an arrest warrant for International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan after he issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges.
For Wallace, the practical effect is that Russia is treating a former British cabinet minister as a wanted person tied to a criminal case. The source says the Interior Ministry database may include dozens of European politicians and officials, a detail that places his case inside a much broader list of political targets.
