Russia places former UK defence minister Ben Wallace on wanted list
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At a security forum in 2025, former British defence secretary Ben Wallace recommended helping Ukraine carry out a military strike on the bridge which links southern Russia to Ukraine's occupied Crimean peninsula.
- Russia placed former UK defence minister Ben Wallace on a wanted list for an unspecified criminal investigation, state media reported on May 13.
- This followed his September call to help Ukraine "smash the cursed bridge" linking Russia to Crimea, making the peninsula "unviable".
- Wallace, a vocal supporter of Ukraine, is among dozens of European officials reportedly on Russia's Interior Ministry wanted persons list.
AI generated
LONDON - Russia has placed British former defence minister Ben Wallace on a wanted list in connection with an unspecified criminal investigation, state media said on May 13, citing the Russian Interior Ministry’s database.
Mr Wallace served as the UK’s defence minister from before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 until August 2023, since when he has continued to advocate for boosting military support for Kyiv and condemned Russian aggression.
The state media reports did not give further details on the case against him.
Commenting on the move, Mr Wallace said: “I am not surprised by this latest Russian stunt at a time when the Kremlin is failing at home and abroad.
“The whole world knows that Russia illegally invaded Ukraine four years ago,” he said by email, accusing the Kremlin of “sending thousands of young Russian men to their deaths all for the sake of (President Vladimir) Putin’s ego.”
In October 2025, a regional Russian lawmaker called for Mr Wallace to be put on Russia’s international wanted list over comments he made at the Warsaw Security Forum about Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula which Russia invaded and claimed to have annexed in 2014.
Speaking at the forum in September, Mr Wallace had recommended helping Ukraine carry out a military strike on the bridge which links 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 Putin will realise he’s got something to lose,” he said.
“We need to smash the cursed bridge.”
It is not clear how many foreign officials or public figures are on the Russian Interior Ministry’s database of wanted persons.
In 2024, independent news outlet Mediazona said the list included dozens of European politicians and officials.
Moscow has convicted some officials and journalists in absentia but the cases are largely symbolic. REUTERS
