Foreign spies face prosecution and deportation under new laws forcing people to ‘register presence’

Foreign spies operating in Britain will be prosecuted and deported under new laws to protect the country from hostile states.

The Queen’s Speech on May 11 will reportedly be used by the Prime Minister to announce a bill outlining measures to protect Britain from the likes of Russia and China.

It will mandate that all individuals working on behalf of foreign governments in the country will have to register their presence – not doing so will become a criminal offence, The Times reported.

Intelligence agencies have warned that under current laws, foreign spies are immune from the law unless they are caught acquiring official secrets. (Pictured, flag of the Chinese Communist Party)

The Official Secrets Act, which is intended to protect the United Kingdom from espionage, will be updated so it can be used against anyone attempting to undermine Britain’s interest from abroad. (Pictured, GCHQ headquarters in Gloucestershire)

The Official Secrets Act, which is intended to protect the United Kingdom from espionage, will be updated so it can be used against anyone attempting to undermine Britain’s interest from abroad. (Pictured, GCHQ headquarters in Gloucestershire) 

Intelligence agencies have warned that under current laws, foreign spies are immune from the law unless they are caught acquiring official secrets.

It is believed that Britain will aim to have a similar register to the Foreign Agents Registration Act in the US, which extends to anyone representing the interests of a foreign state.

The Official Secrets Act, which is intended to protect the United Kingdom from espionage, will be updated so it can be used against anyone attempting to undermine Britain’s interest from abroad. 

With some parts written in 1911, ministers hope to adjust the legislation so it can be used against those carrying out foreign cyberattacks.

They are also considering whether to raise the maximum sentence – which is currently two years for most offences – for any breaches of the act.

President Biden warns Putin ‘there will be consequences’ if Alexei Navalny dies in prison following two-week hunger strike as doctors warn the Russian opposition leader ‘could die any minute’ 

 By Chris Pleasance  

Joe Biden has warned Putin there will be consequences if critic Alexei Navalny is allowed to die in jail as doctors warn his health is failing amid hunger strike.

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that Biden is weighing up a range of responses if Navalny dies, and that Moscow is aware of the threat. 

Meanwhile EU leaders said sanctions placed on Russia earlier this year could be increased if Navalny perishes, with a summit to discuss the issue on Monday.

It comes after Yaroslav Ashikhmin, a doctor acting on behalf of Navalny’s family, said test results received from the Russian penal colony where the activist is being held show dangerous levels of potassium in his blood along with signs of kidney failure.

‘Our patient could die at any moment,’ Ashikhmin warned. 

Alexei Navalny is showing signs of kidney damage and could die 'at any moment' as he continues a three-week hunger strike over conditions in a US jail, his doctor has said (pictured, Navalny in jail last month)

Alexei Navalny is showing signs of kidney damage and could die ‘at any moment’ as he continues a three-week hunger strike over conditions in a US jail, his doctor has said (pictured, Navalny in jail last month) 

Navalny, 44, has been on hunger strike since March 31 because he says Russian prison guards are refusing him proper treatment for acute pain in his back and numbness in his legs. Moscow insists he is being given adequate care.

Sullivan said Washington is ‘looking at a variety of different costs that we would impose… if Mr Navalny dies’, while refusing to go into specifics.

He spoke a day after Biden called Navalny’s treatment ‘unfair’ and ‘totally inappropriate’ when asked about it during a round of golf.  

German foreign minister Heiko Maas said the issue will be discussed at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday.

‘The package of sanctions is already significant, but there may be others,’ French foreign minister Yves le Drain added.

Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putin’s most-prominent critic, was first arrested in January upon his return to Russia following a suspected Novichok poisoning, that is thought to have been carried out by an FSB hit squad.

He was then jailed for two and a half years the following month over an old embezzlement case, and transferred to a penal colony on February 26.

Navalny says he is being denied medical attention for acute pain in his back and numbness in his legs by guards inside the penal colony (pictured) where he is being held

Navalny says he is being denied medical attention for acute pain in his back and numbness in his legs by guards inside the penal colony (pictured) where he is being held 

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan (left) has warned Moscow of ‘consequences’ if Navalny dies, while German foreign minister Heiko Maas has said sanctions could be increased

On March 15 he uploaded his first Instagram post from inside jail, likening conditions to ‘a concentration camp’ alongside an image of him with a shaved head.

Then, on March 31, Navalny revealed in a hand-written letter posted online by his team that he had gone on hunger strike after being denied proper medical care.

He wrote: ‘I really need a doctor. Every convict has the right [by law] to invite a specialist to examine and consult him. Even I have such a right and I’m innocent.

‘I demand that a doctor be allowed to see me, and until this happens, I am declaring a hunger strike.’

Navalny has previously posted online about his declining health since he started the strike, saying that prison wardens had threatened to force-feed him.

But the sudden deterioration in his health this weekend prompted Leonid Volkov, a top strategist for Navalny, to call for demonstrations to take place on Wednesday. 

The demonstrations are due to take place in symbolic locations – Manezh Square in Moscow, just outside the Kremlin, and St. Petersburg’s sprawling Palace Square. 

Russian activists have called for nationwide protests to pressure the government into saving Navalny, after large demonstrations in January were met with a brutal police response

Russian activists have called for nationwide protests to pressure the government into saving Navalny, after large demonstrations in January were met with a brutal police response  

Police did not immediately respond, but marchers likely face a harsh crackdown.

Officers arrested more than 10,000 people during demonstrations that took place in January, in what was the largest show of defiance against Putin in years. 

The saga is playing out against the backdrop of increased tensions between Russia and the west over a troop build-up in Ukraine that is unprecedented in recent years.

Russia insists that troops are being stationed along the border in response to NATO activities, but the alliance denies any build-up of its own and has called on Putin to ‘de-escalate’ the situation.

Putin himself has given no explanation for the build-up, but observers have suggested that it could be designed as a ‘test’ for Joe Biden after he took a tough line with the Kremlin, and as Putin sizes up his new counterpart.

Others have suggested that Putin is responding to pressures within Russia itself, including growing political opposition from Navalny and those linked to him.