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Russia Adds Former UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace to Wanted List Over Unspecified Criminal Probe
Moscow added Ben Wallace to its wanted list over an unspecified criminal investigation that a law enforcement source linked to terrorism-related charges. The move follows Wallace's September 2025 remarks at the Warsaw Security Forum urging strikes on the bridge to Russian-annexed Crimea. Al Jazeera reported the development amid a broader Russian crackdown on critics of the war in Ukraine.
May 13, 1:03 PM·2m read1 source
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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. State-run news agency TASS quoted an unnamed source in law enforcement as saying that the investigation was linked to terrorism-related charges. The entry appears in the ministry’s public database.
Ben Wallace served as the UK’s Secretary of State for Defence from 2019 until August 2023. He held the post before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has continued to advocate for increased military support for Kyiv. In October 2025, a regional Russian lawmaker called for Ben Wallace to be put on Russia’s wanted list.
The call came after Wallace spoke at the Warsaw Security Forum the previous month. At the Warsaw Security Forum in September 2025, Ben Wallace 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. ” Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described Ben Wallace’s remarks as “stupid”.
Dmitry Peskov stated that Moscow does not consider it necessary to comment on statements by former Western officials. The listing of Ben Wallace fits a pattern of prosecutions as the Kremlin has cracked down on dissent concerning its narrative of the war in Ukraine.
