Britain should follow America’s lead and create its own UFO taskforce to investigate potential extraterrestrial sightings, experts have said.

They accused the UK Government of failing to take the issue seriously enough and warned that it could have serious implications for the country’s defence capabilities.

Nick Pope, who investigated UFOs for the British military in the 1990s before the unit was disbanded, said it was ‘outrageous’ that ministers are not taking ‘meaningful action’ to probe unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) — more commonly known as unidentified flying objects.

‘The Ministry of Defence (MoD) needs to restart UAP investigations, a task force of some sort needs to be set up, and the Defence Committee needs to start holding the MoD to account on UAP, as the Armed Services Committees are doing in the US Congress, in both the Senate and the House,’ he told MailOnline.

Mr Pope accused defence officials of ‘falling back on a lazy, closed-minded “it can’t be, so it isn’t” mindset’, meaning potential foreign threats to UK shores could be missed.

The MoD closed its UFO desk in 2009 and nothing has ever replaced it.

Prior to this, it carried out what at the time was a highly-secretive and extensive UFO investigation of more than 10,000 possible sightings over several decades — many of which were by military personnel.

Known as the Project Condign report, it concluded that 80 per cent of the sightings were easily explained, 19 per cent were secret military craft and just 1 per cent were mysterious in origin.

However, the MoD accepted that there are always going to be UAP and that those which are unexplained are likely an ‘an unknown kind of plasma’ and not of concern. 

‘The MoD has consistently stated that no UFO/UAP sighting has ever shown a threat to the UK, therefore they are of no defence significance and as a result the MoD is not interested,’ said Philip Mantle, the former director of investigations at the British UFO Research Association.

He told MailOnline that for this reason it would be ‘pointless’ to set up a UFO taskforce.

‘The MoD are not interested and science in general usually gives the subject a wide berth,’ Mr Mantle added.

‘One thing that is clear, however, is that the UFO phenomenon, whatever it may be, does not recognise any international borders, therefore any such study surely must be international in scope rather than national.’

In the US, NASA last week released its highly-anticipated report into more than 800 potential alien sightings over a period of three decades.

The space agency’s independent panel of experts stressed that there was ‘no reason to conclude’ that any were extraterrestrial in origin, but warned that mysterious flying objects were a ‘self-evident’ threat to American airspace. 

Mr Pope said that if the US was worried about this then Britain, as an NATO ally, should be too.

He added: ‘The UK can make a significant contribution to the wider search for the truth about UAP, by leveraging its world class intelligence community imagery analysis resources and capabilities. 

‘The bottom line is that we need action. 

‘Just as lawmakers in the US – Republicans and Democrats alike – are taking up this issue, UK Parliamentarians should start asking the MoD some hard questions, not accept boilerplate responses, and ensure that meaningful action is taken by setting up a task force modeled on the Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.’

A petition has also been set up calling for the UK to set up an investigatory office on UFOs/UAPs but has so far attracted just 1,500 signatures since May.

It requires 10,000 for the Government to respond to it and 100,000 to be considered for debate in Parliament.

The petition states that the office ‘would be primarily to research and investigate reports of UFOs (unidentified flying objects) and UAPs (unidentified anomalous phenomena) over the United Kingdom and also assist and support witnesses.’

Even though they poured cold water on the extraterrestrial hypothesis, NASA’s experts did not deny the possibility of a ‘potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere’. 

Their 33-page report called for NASA to utilise its technological might to continue studying UFOs because many cases remain unsolved — and researchers still have no idea what some of these sightings are.

NASA chief Bill Nelson announced that a new director for UFO research would help implement the panel’s recommendations. 

A separate UFO investigation by the Pentagon is also under way, but with the intelligence and military communities.

Nikki Haley ramps up criticism of ‘thin-skinned’ and ‘easily distracted’ Trump: 2024 hopeful says he’s ‘weak in the knees’ on Ukraine in most direct attack on her rival – as she rises in the polls

• GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said Thursday that history will remember former President Donald Trump as ‘thin-skinned and easily distracted’ 
• She’s touring New Hampshire as she rises in the polls in the Granite State
• Haley, who served as Trump’s U.N. ambassador, was asked how the ex-president will be remembered 100 years from now 

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com In Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Published: 15:26 EDT, 21 September 2023 | Updated: 15:28 EDT, 21 September 2023

Prince Harry turns 39 today and partied with Meghan in a traditional German bar last night where he washed down bratwurst sausage and wiener schnitzel with six beers, MailOnline can reveal.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex enjoyed a night out in Dusseldorf with friends as the Invictus Games draws to a close.

Bar staff said the royals were ‘lovely’ and left a ‘big tip’ as they enjoyed plates piled high with red cabbage and mashed potato. While Harry celebrated with six half-pints, his wife stuck to just one small drink.

Diners at the Im Goldenen Kessel restaurant and bar were asked not to take pictures but said they saw the prince laughing and joking as the food arrived at his table. He also looked thrilled when a birthday cake arrived at the end of the meal.

He and Meghan posed for photographs with the owner of the restaurant Thea Ungermann and head waiter Frank Wackers who has worked at the restaurant for 38 years. 

Ms Ungermann told MailOnline: ‘Harry was a lovely man and was having a very jolly time. Meghan was lovely.’ 

Meghan stuck with the white skinny jeans she wore to watch the volleyball match yesterday. She paired it with a red and white pinstriped shirt and nude ballet pumps. Meanwhile Harry wore dark jeans and a grey top. 

During his meal, Harry was presented with a birthday cake by staff at the restaurant, based in Dusseldorf’s old town.

He and his party took up two tables at the restaurant, which is part of the Schumacher brewery, and were served their food and beer by Mr Wackers.

Mr Wackers told MailOnline that Harry had six small beers – about half a pint rather than the litre sized beers most German breweries serve.

He said the group were served Wiener Schnitzel, pork knuckle, sausage and plates of roast and mashed potato.

Mr Wackers said: ‘They were very happy. He is a lovely man, and they were so nice.’

He also joked that Harry’s bodyguard asked what was the beer like.

‘He said that he would kill me if the beer was bad, but I know he was joking.’

Aides and staff sang Happy Birthday as the restaurant presented Harry with a white chocolate cake.  

After tucking in, the party then walked back to their waiting cars in the cobbled Altstadt area of the city. 

A source close to the prince said: ‘They drank local beer and ate family style dishes to experience a true German meal. Everyone was incredibly friendly, especially the waiters pictured in the photograph online. 

‘They did not dine in a private space and were in joyful spirits, toasting and laughing with the team.

After dinner, the group headed back to the hotel to sing Happy Birthday and eat cake just shy of midnight.’

The owner of the restaurant said Harry picked up the bill and left a big tip for the staff.

The restaurant is attached to the Schumacher brewery, one of two popular venues in Dusseldorf.

Both Ms Ungermann and the head waiter speak fluent English so were able to take Harry and Meghan’s orders without needing to translate them into German.

Harry and his party had driven from their hotel in the Media Harbour of the city and were dropped off by a pedestrian area.

They walked the 50 yards to the restaurant past other bars before occupying two tables in a raised section of the restaurant which is next door to a McDonalds.

The party drank the locally brewed beer called Alt Schumacher which is also served at the Merkur Spiel-Arena where the Invictus Games are held.

Ms Ungermann said: ‘The couple were very relaxed, they drank our beer, Schumacher Alt – it’s the same beer they are serving at the Invictus Games.

‘Harry and Meghan sat next to each other during the meal. I had goosebumps when they walked into the restaurant, I had watched his speech on the stage at the Invictus Games and couldn’t believe he was in my restaurant. Prince Harry was so lovely and gave me a hug.’

The restaurant posted the group photo of Harry and Meghan with staff on their social media. 

Harry is thought to have had an early 39th party as he will be busy with events at the games today.

Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine ‘is just the beginning’ and ‘the war will not stop there’, a Russian general recently promoted by the Kremlin has warned.

Colonel General Andrey Mordviche also said he expects future conflicts with European countries during an appearance on the state-run TV channel Russia-1.

The Russian president’s invasion in February 2022 raised fears of a wider global conflict, with some warning it was a precursor to a third world war, pitting Russia and its allies against NATO and the West.

While Ukraine has managed to pin Moscow‘s armies back in the east, Russian commentators have intensified their anti-NATO rhetoric, regularly calling for Putin and his generals to launch strikes on other European nations while spreading pro-Kremlin propaganda to the Russian people, as well as neighbouring countries.

Mordvichev’s comments provide some insight into what plans are being shared with Moscow’s high-ranking military officials, hinting that Putin intends on continuing his war for years to come, and possibly even push further West.

When asked on Russia-1 if Ukraine was just a ‘stepping stone,’ Mordvichev – who is the commander of the Russian Central Military District – said last year’s invasion was just the beginning of Russia’s military ambitions.

‘I think there’s still plenty of time to spend,’ he said. 

‘It is pointless to talk about a specified period. If we are talking about Eastern Europe, which we will have to, of course then it will be longer. 

‘It is only the beginning. The war will not stop here,’ he added.

‘I think that all kinds of ideologists and instigators of this war will not stop here.’

Mordvichev, whose comments came in a video of him speaking to a Russian reporter while walking through forests and riding in a tank – seemingly in Ukraine, was promoted last week to the rank of colonel general. 

The top commander is well-placed, in charge of the Central Military District, and a close ally of Vladimir Putin crony Ramzan Kadyrov, the warlord leader of Chechnya.

Kadyrov has labelled the general Russia’s ‘best commander’.

As such, Mordvichev is in a position to know Kremlin thinking on the war.

Some pro-democracy advocates fear Putin is working to widen his political sphere of influence to eventually make a move against the West beyond Ukraine’s borders.

The Russian despot has outlined his vision to reunify territories that once fell under the now-defunct Russian empire and the Soviet Union, while claiming – in his attempts to justify his brutal invasion – that Ukraine should not have independence.

He also claims Russia is working to ‘denazify’ Ukraine and to protect Russian-speakers in the country from ‘genocide’. There is no evidence to support Moscow’s claims that Ukraine is a Nazi state, or committing any form of genocide.

Some of Putin’s most outspoken supporters, particularly on his propaganda-spreading TV channels, have even called for the Russian president to also launch assaults on NATO countries, including Poland and others in Eastern Europe.

They have done so while Russia’s official line claims the invasion of Ukraine was done for defensive reasons, citing the expansion of NATO.

NATO and its members say Putin’s invasion is nothing but an imperialistic land grab and an attempt to overthrow a pro-Western, democratically elected government.

Were Russia to attack any NATO member, the alliance’s Article 5 would be triggered.

The article states that if any NATO ally ‘is the victim of an armed attack, each and every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members.’

In such an event, NATO would ‘take the actions it deems necessary to assist the Ally attacked,’ the article states.

This would mean 31 armies – including those belonging to Britain, the United States, France and Germany – would be brought against Putin’s forces.

While Russia’s army was once considered among the world’s most advanced, Putin’s faltering invasion of Ukraine has highlighted its many weaknesses.

Ukraine’s smaller military, albeit heavily backed by modern Western weaponry and equipment, is currently carrying out a counteroffensive in the east of the country, working to push Russia’s armies back.

While progress in this year’s counteroffensive is proving slow, last year Kyiv’s forces were able to push Putin’s armies back from the capital before liberating vast swathes of land in both the north and south.

If Putin does want to launch an invasion beyond Ukraine’s borders, he’ll first have to find a way of defeating Kyiv’s armies that are inching closer to his own land.

The war has sown devastation across swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine, killed or injured hundreds of thousands and triggered the biggest rupture in Russia’s ties with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Russia controls about 18% of Ukrainian territory, including Crimea which it annexed in 2014 and a swathe of eastern and southern Ukraine which it took control of in 2022 when it first invaded.

For several months, Ukraine has been battling to try to regain some of that territory and has retaken some villages but not yet made significant territorial breakthroughs against heavily fortified Russian lines which are strewn with thousands of landmines.

Ukraine says it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from its land. The West says it wants to help Ukraine defeat Russia – an aim Kremlin officials say is an unrealistic pipedream.

Speaking on Tuesday, Putin said that Ukraine was only likely to start peace talks when it ran out of resources and would use any potential cessation of hostilities to rearm again with Western help.

During an appearance at an economic forum in Russia’s Pacific port city of Vladivostok, he said Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian forces had so far failed and that the Ukrainian army had sustained heavy losses.

‘I have the impression that they want to bite off as much as they can and then, when their resources are close to zero, to achieve a cessation of hostilities and start negotiations in order to replenish their resources and restore combat capability.’

Putin said many potential mediators had asked him if Russia was ready to stop fighting, but he said that Russia could hardly stop fighting when it was facing a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

For there to be any chance of talks, said Putin, Ukraine would first have to cancel its self-imposed legal ban on peace talks and explain what it wanted.

‘Then we shall see,’ Putin said.

He also said that the West’s decision to supply Ukraine with cluster bombs and depleted uranium munitions was a crime, but that while such supplies might prolong the war they would not change its ultimate outcome.

He also criticised the West’s decision to supply Ukraine with F-16 jets.

Asked if Russia needed to introduce a new compulsory mobilisation, Putin said that 1,000 – 1,500 Russians were signing voluntary contracts to join the military daily.

Over the past six or seven months, 270,000 people had signed voluntary contracts, Putin said – a figure slightly lower than the 280,000 that former president Dmitry Medvedev stated earlier this month. 

Turkey’s President Erdogan ‘declares war’ with Russia thanks to an interpreter’s blunder in front of a surprised Vladimir Putin

By Will Stewart

Updated: 12:06 EDT, 4 September 2023

Dozens of Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad today over the burning of a Koran by an Iraqi protester in Stockholm.

Video showed an angry mob breaking through an iron gate and climbing on top of the compound, as global fury grew over the stunt.

It came after several Muslim countries condemned Sweden for allowing the Iraqi man to burn a Koran outside Stockholm’s main mosque on Wednesday – during the Eid al-Adha holiday and the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

Under a heavy police presence and in front of a crowd of 200, Salwan Momika, a 37-year-old who fled to Sweden several years ago, put bacon in the pages of a Koran before stomping on it and setting several pages alight.

Police had granted him a permit for the protest in line with free-speech protections after an appeals court rejected their ban on Koran burning protests, but said later the man had been charged with agitation against an ethnic or national group.

The stunt sparked anger across the Muslim world, including in Turkey which is currently blocking Sweden’s bid to join the NATO military alliance, while in Iraq demonstrators stormed inside the Swedish embassy in the capital of Baghdad.

Saudi Arabia, Iran, Morocco, Bahrain and the UAE joined in the chorus of condemnation, with the US also calling the protest ‘disrespectful and hurtful’.

Footage from the compound in Iraq showed people barging through a copper-coloured gate as others climbed over the walls. A second clip showed people climbing on top of the barbed-wire covered building, singing and waving flags.

The protesters first rallied outside the embassy in response to a call by Sadr who demanded the removal of the Swedish ambassador, echoing outrage in several Muslim countries over the Koran burning Wednesday in Stockholm.

The demonstrators also distributed leaflets that carried messages in Arabic and English that said: ‘Our constitution is the Koran. Our leader is Al-Sadr’.

‘Yes, yes to the Koran,’ was also scrawled on the gate leading to the embassy, according to the photographer.

The demonstrators, supporters of firebrand Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, remained inside for about 15 minutes before leaving peacefully as security forces deployed, a press photographer who witnessed the scenes unfold said. 

Sadr’s supporters also torched rainbow flags that represent the LGBTQ community, after the powerful cleric suggested this would be ‘the best way to provoke’ those who back Koran burnings.

Stockholm’s foreign ministry said in a statement it was ‘well informed about the situation. Our embassy staff are safe.’

Protester Hussein Ali Zeidan, 32, told AFP he came out to ‘support the noble Koran’ and called to revoke Momika’s citizenship as ‘he does not represent Iraq’.

On Wednesday, some 200 onlookers witnessed Momika – one of the two protesters – tearing up pages of a copy of the Koran and wiping his shoes with it before putting bacon in it and setting the book on fire. The other spoke into a megaphone.

Some of those present shouted ‘God is Great’ in Arabic to protest against the burning, and one man was detained by police after he attempted to throw a rock.

A supporter of the protest shouted ‘let it burn’ as the holy book caught fire.

While Swedish police have rejected several recent applications for anti-Koran demonstrations, courts have overruled those decisions despite the issues it could cause for Sweden’s NATO bid, saying they infringed on freedom of speech.

Turkey is blocking Sweden’s NATO membership bid due to what it perceives as Stockholm’s failure to crack down on Kurdish groups it considers ‘terrorists.’

A meeting between the countries’ top diplomats is scheduled for July 6 at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, with NATO counterparts pushing for Turkey to grant the green light to Sweden by the time the summit takes place in Lithuania on July 11-12.

In its written decision granting a permit for the protest, Stockholm police said the security risks associated with the burning ‘were not of a nature that could justify, under current laws, a decision to reject the request’.

Momika, 37, who fled to Sweden several years ago, had asked police for permission to burn the holy book ‘to express my opinion about the Koran’.

Ahead of the protest, Momika told news agency TT he also wanted to highlight the importance of freedom of speech.

‘This is democracy. It is in danger if they tell us we can’t do this,’ Momika said.

Police had cordoned off an area in a park next to the mosque separating Momika and a co-protester from the crowd. One man was understood to have been taken away from the scene when he was caught carrying a rock.

Police later said in a statement that the protest had not caused ‘disturbances to order,’ but added that an investigation had been opened regarding ‘agitation against an ethnic group’ because Momika had chosen to burn the Koran near a mosque.

Police added he was also being investigated for violating a temporary ban on lighting fires – in place due to a heatwave.

Noa Omran, a 32-year-old artist from Stockholm, called the protest ‘insane’.

‘It’s just hatred masquerading in the name of democracy and freedom, which it isn’t,’ the woman, who said her mother was from a Muslim background, said at the scene.

The police authorisation for the protest came two weeks after a Swedish appeals court rejected the police’s decision to deny permits for two demonstrations in Stockholm which were to include Koran burnings.

Police had at the time cited security concerns, following the January protest which led to weeks of demonstrations and calls for a boycott of Swedish goods.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a press conference on Wednesday he would not speculate about how the protest could affect Sweden’s NATO process.

‘It’s legal but not appropriate,’ he said, adding that it was up to the police to make decisions on Koran burnings.

Representatives of the mosque were disappointed by the police decision to grant permission for the protest on the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, mosque director and Imam Mahmoud Khalfi said on Wednesday.

‘The mosque suggested to the police to at least divert the demonstration to another location, which is possible by law, but they chose not to do so,’ Khalfi said.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Sweden for allowing the protest, further clouding the Nordic nation’s chances of quickly joining NATO.

‘We will eventually teach the arrogant Westerners that insulting Muslims is not freedom of thought,’ Erdogan said in televised remarks.

‘We will show our reaction in the strongest possible terms, until a determined victory against terrorist organisations and Islamophobia is achieved.’

Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had called the burning of the pages of the Islamic holy book ‘despicable.’

‘It is unacceptable to allow these anti-Islamic actions under the pretext of freedom of expression,’ Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan wrote on Twitter. ‘Turning a blind eye to such atrocious acts is to be complicit.’

Egypt, the Arab world’s most populous country, called the Koran burning a ‘disgraceful act provoking the feelings of Muslims’ as they mark Eid.

The Cairo-based Arab League branded it an ‘assault on the core of our Islamic faith’, and the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council also condemned it. 

The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation called for ‘effective measures to prevent a recurrence’.

The Iraqi government also slammed the burning of the Koran, calling it ‘racist’ and ‘irresponsible’, while Morocco recalled its ambassador to Stockholm.

‘This new offensive and irresponsible act disregards the feelings of more than a billion Muslims, at this sacred time of the great pilgrimage to Mecca and the blessed feast of Eid al-Adha,’ Morocco said in a statement.

‘Faced with these repeated provocations, committed under the complacent gaze of the Swedish government’, Morocco summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires in Rabat and recalled its ambassador, it added.

United Arab Emirates presidential adviser Anwar Gargash tweeted that the West ‘must realise that its value system… cannot be imposed on the world’.

The foreign ministry in Abu Dhabi summoned the Swedish ambassador to protest the free-speech protections given to ‘such heinous acts’, it said on Thursday.

Kuwait said perpetrators of ‘hostile acts’ must be brought to justice and ‘prevented from using the principle of freedoms as a ploy to justify hostility against Islam or any holy faith’.

Bahrain said that ‘insulting religions is inconsistent with religious freedom… and generates hatred, extremism and violence’.

Iran joined in the condemnation on Thursday, calling the Koran burning ‘provocative, ill-considered and unacceptable’.

‘The government and people of the Islamic Republic of Iran… do not tolerate such an insult and strongly condemn it,’ said foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanani.

‘The Swedish government is expected to seriously consider the principle of responsibility and accountability in this regard, while preventing the repetition of insulting the holy sanctities,’ he added.

Jordan also issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it was a dangerous display of hatred and Islamophobia that cannot be justified as freedom of expression.

The United States, the largest power in NATO, joined criticism of the Koran burning but reiterated its support for Sweden’s entrance into the alliance.

‘We’ve said consistently that the burning of religious texts is disrespectful and hurtful and what might be legal is certainly not necessarily appropriate,’ State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters in Washington.

‘We continue to believe that Sweden should become a NATO member as soon as possible,’ he said, calling the country a ‘strong, capable defence partner that shares NATO’s values.’

Wednesday was not the first time a Koran has been burned in a public protest this year. In January, far-right Danish political party politician Stram Kurs Rasmus Paludan burned the religious book outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm.

The move angered Ankara then too, which is already using its grievances with Stockholm and its government to continue to block Sweden’s ascension to NATO.

Speaking to newspaper Aftonbladet in April, Momika said his intention was not to sabotage Sweden’s NATO bid and that he had considered waiting to stage his protest until after the country had joined the alliance.

‘I don’t want to harm this country that received me and preserved my dignity,’ Momika told the newspaper.

Up to 10,000 visitors attend Stockholm’s mosque for Eid celebrations every year, according to Khalfi.

Russia today jailed one of its most eminent hypersonic scientists for allegedly leaking secrets to a NATO country as a western diplomat warned that Putin and his spies ‘see treason lurking around every corner.’

Professor Valery Golubkin, 71, has been sent to a strict regime penal colony for 12 years after being convicted of high treason by the Moscow City Court.

Golubkin, a professor at a Moscow institute studying aerodynamics who is seen as a world expert in hypersonic technology, was detained in 2020 on suspicion of handing over secrets to an unnamed NATO country.

According to reports, he was accused of handing the information involving aerodynamics to scientists from the Netherlands.

Golubkin worked for the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and at the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI).

He was the author of more than 120 scientific papers in the field, and was engaged in theoretical developments while having only the third form of access to state secrets – suggesting he never worked on ‘top secret’ projects.

Multiple top scientists have been held on national security accusations by Vladimir Putin’s regime in the past two years with the FSB security service accused of purging some of Russia’s top academics.

Critics of the Kremlin say the arrests often stem from unfounded paranoia, something the authorities deny.

Golubkin insisted no secrets were involved and he only shared information cleared by the Russian authorities.

‘Putin and his spies now see treason lurking around every corner,’ said a Western diplomat in Moscow.

Putin has prioritised the development of hypersonic missile technology, yet this has failed to bring him much advantage in the war in Ukraine.

Moscow often boasts about its hypersonic weapons (that are able to travel more than five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5) as being ‘unstoppable’.

However, few have been seen in action, and Kyiv has said it has been able to shoot down such missiles in a major blow to Putin’s goal of developing an arsenal that can rival that of the United States and other western nations.

Specifically, Ukraine said in May that it had shot down six Russian Kinzhal (Dagger) missiles. Russia dismissed Kyiv’s report.

Golubkin’s trail was held in secret.

His lawyer Alexander Timoshenko said earlier: ‘He does not admit guilt. 

‘He is a theoretical physicist, he explained to me what he was doing, [concerning] theoretical physics. He did not have access to state secrets.’

Another Russian colleague and Golubkin’s supervisors Anatoly Gubanov, was arrested for high treason in December 2020.

Golubkin said his arrest was in connection to Gubanov’s testimony, and that he passed two of his reports on to co-workers in the Netherlands on Gubanov’s orders.

According to Russia Free Press, another of Golubkin’s lawyers Ivan Pavlov said Russia’s FSB security agency ‘saw treason in the fact that Golubkin took part in the official international project HEXAFLY-INT (High-Speed Experimental Fly Vehicles).’

He did so, Pavlov said, ‘under a contract concluded between TsAGI and the European Institute, during which, at the direction of his superiors, he sent reports on the work performed.’ 

Human rights project Pervy Otdel, said: ‘Three commissions confirmed that there was no classified information [in the Golubkin case]… Those reports were available to be published and shared with international partners.’ 

By Mark Duell

Published: 03:13 EDT, 20 June 2023 | Updated: 15:23 EDT, 20 June 2023

Advertisement

Russia offers troops £930 cash bonuses for any US or UK tanks they destroy

• Russian troops will receive payment for destroying vehicles supplied by NATO
• It is part of a wider reward scheme, according to the Russian defence ministry 

By Alexander Butler

Published: 04:41 EDT, 16 June 2023 | Updated: 07:31 EDT, 16 June 2023

Ben Wallace arrives in Kyiv for talks with Ukraine counterpart as Ministry of Defence says more than 1,000 Russian troops have gone AWOL already this year with Vladimir Putin struggling to enforce discipline

• Defence Secretary meets with Oleksii Reznikov in an unannounced visit to Kyiv

By Greg Heffer, Political Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: 06:01 EDT, 24 May 2023 | Updated: 19:54 EDT, 24 May 2023