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Helen Warrell

@helenwarrell.bsky.social

3.6K followers 290 following 16 posts

FT investigations. Previously defence & security editor, political and home affairs correspondent. Get in touch: [email protected]

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Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · 12d

What is Russia's spy ship Yantar and why has it been loitering in British waters? The FT investigates the threat to undersea cables & the work of Moscow's secret deep-sea research unit, GUGI, as an agent of sabotage. With @chriscook.news Daria Mosolova & David Djambazov

www.ft.com/content/0b35...

The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables

Covert operations in waters surrounding the British Isles pose a grave threat to critical infrastructure and a fresh challenge to Nato

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 12d

FT Investigation: Using radar data collected by European Space Agency satellites, the FT was able to locate the spy ship hovering over critical cables in the middle of the Irish Sea in November, at a point in the voyage when the ship was seeking to hide its activities. on.ft.com/46JjsIJ

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · 12d

What is Russia's spy ship Yantar and why has it been loitering in British waters? The FT investigates the threat to undersea cables & the work of Moscow's secret deep-sea research unit, GUGI, as an agent of sabotage. With @chriscook.news Daria Mosolova & David Djambazov

www.ft.com/content/0b35...

The Russian spy ship stalking Europe’s subsea cables

Covert operations in waters surrounding the British Isles pose a grave threat to critical infrastructure and a fresh challenge to Nato

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · Aug 5

FT exposes Russian cooperation with Iran in pursuit of dual-use nuclear technology.

Essential reading to understand Iranian efforts to acquire the tools, expertise and material to make and amplify the power of nuclear bombs.

Ace reporting by @miles-johnson.bsky.social and @maxseddon.bsky.social

The covert trip by Iranian nuclear experts to Russia

An Iranian delegation visited Russian scientific institutes that produce dual-use technologies — components with potential applications in nuclear weapons research

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Christoph Becker @chwb.bsky.social · Jul 29

Mit Gewinn gehört: Die FT-Hot Money-Staffel von @samgadjones.bsky.social zu Marsalek. Letzte Folge heute erschienen, einschließlich eines sehr nachdenklich stimmenden Schlusssatzes.

www.ft.com/content/d5f8...

How Wirecard’s Jan Marsalek went from fraudster to spy

The third season of our investigative podcast asks: who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Stephen Bush @stephenkb.bsky.social · Jul 22

Great column by @sarahoconnorft.ft.com:

Why does the internet hate my apostrophe?

It turns out I am not machine readable — but that might be an advantage in the future

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jul 1

Essential reading from Miranda here — a firm no to shorts and jackets but yes to male sarongs

Miranda Green @greenmirandahere.bsky.social · Jun 30

The Central Line is like an oven - what do you wear in an oven that's office-appropriate? some ideas for heatwave attire I've spotted in the last few days - including a 3 piece suit in thick Irish tweed 🌡️🌡️🌡️https://www.ft.com/content/aaa210a3-8233-43f0-9d0a-5cc29edb122a

Dressing up or giving up? The heatwave trials of commuter clothing

Londoners are attempting to adapt their wardrobes to a sweltering Tube journey, with mixed results

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jun 18

A poignant report from our ever-brilliant Najmeh Bozorgmehr

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Jun 18

‘Let them kill us’: millions of Iranians refuse to leave Tehran https://on.ft.com/3HFY2Ua

‘Let them kill us’: millions of Iranians refuse to leave Tehran

Many are staying put in the Iranian capital, despite Israel’s deadly strikes and warnings to evacuate

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jun 16

Masterful piece on Iran's Fordow enrichment plant, buried deep in the mountains, by my colleagues JP Rathbone and
Charles Clover

"To Israeli military planners, it is akin to Mount Doom..."

www.ft.com/content/46c6...

The nuclear mountain that haunts Israel

Buried half a kilometre underground, Iran’s Fordow enrichment facility is the ultimate test of Israeli air power

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jun 15

The FT conducted extensive interviews with Metreweli and her senior female SIS colleagues for this piece three years ago on the top women spies at MI6. To protect her identity, Metreweli chose the pseudonym 'Ada' for the story (free to read)

www.ft.com/content/7417...

The secret lives of MI6’s top female spies

For the first time ever, SIS officers reveal why women often make the best spies for our times

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jun 15

New: UK appoints Blaise Metreweli as the first female head of MI6

Metreweli, 47, is currently SIS' head of technology, known as ‘Q’. She has previously worked for SIS in roles across the Middle East & as director of state threats for MI5

www.ft.com/content/b12e...

Britain’s MI6 spy agency promotes ‘Q’ to be first female head

Appointment of Blaise Metreweli comes as agents grapple with competing threats

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · Jun 10

New Hot Money podcast is all about Jan Marsalek, the Wirecard fraudster and Russian spy. Listen to @samgadjones.bsky.social chase him through the shadows here:

Hot Money: how Wirecard’s Jan Marsalek went from fraudster to spy

The third season of our investigative podcast asks: who is the real Jan Marsalek? And what does his secret life reveal about the powerful forces he serves?

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Jun 10

Rhianan Rudd was drawn into far-right extremism aged 14, with tragic consequences. Her inquest heard from MI5, CT police, Prevent officials & social workers, who face a rising caseload of teens radicalised online. Is there more the British state could do to keep them safe?
www.ft.com/content/ae02...

The vulnerable teen drawn into far-right extremism online

Could the British state have done more to help Rhianan Rudd?

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dr. Dan Lomas @sandbaggerone.bsky.social · Jun 7

UK close to appointing first female head of MI6 www.ft.com/content/55bf...

UK close to appointing first female head of MI6

Two women remain in running to be chief of Secret Intelligence Service, with decision expected within a fortnight

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · May 9

Wild new Jan Marsalek update from UK court. The fugitive Wirecard fraudster and Russian spy aspired to build a Chinese rival to Musk’s Starlink, was trading diamonds in Africa, and had plastic surgeries to change his appearance.

Oh, and then there’s the Afghanistan airlift claims…

Bulgarian spy helped Wirecard’s Marsalek plan Kabul airlift for CIA, court told

[FREE TO READ] Claim dismissed by prosecution lawyers at Old Bailey sentencing hearing

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Apr 4

With thanks to @forsvaret.bsky.social @thomasnilsen.bsky.social @marclanteigne.bsky.social Norwegian guide extraordinaire @rkytterstad.bsky.social and many more

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Apr 4

In northern Norway, US marines are learning Arctic warfare. Here is my @financialtimes.com story on the competition between Russia, China & Nato in this region – and how troops fight in a hostile climate. With Daria Mosolova & beautiful 📷 by @kalpeshlathigra.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/76fd...

Meet the warriors trying to teach the west how to fight in the Arctic

Melting sea ice, rising tensions and the relearning of what it will take to master the art of Arctic warfare

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Gordon Corera @gordoncorera.bsky.social · Mar 21

Farewell to one of the most important spies of the Cold War. Oleg Gordievsky has died in the UK. A KGB officer who spied for MI6, he supplied vital intelligence that helped manage tensions between the West and the Soviet Union in the 80s. Nothing suspicious to his passing, I understand.

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Mar 13

Huge congratulations Hannah! Amazing work

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · Mar 7

Marsalek made himself useful, running a Bulgarian spy ring in the UK with enough bumbling adventure for most lifetimes, according to details revealed in the trial that resulted in three convictions today.

Astounding story from Helen Warrell, Martha Muir and Daria Mosolova here:

The Wirecard fugitive, Russian intelligence and a Bulgarian spy ring

A London espionage trial has provided rare insight into the activities of Jan Marsalek, the former payments executive, and how Moscow is outsourcing its spying

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · Mar 8

You think a story is over, then a Bulgarian pops up in the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth with a garage full of spying equipment and plans to kidnap a dissident

Dan McCrum @mccrum.bsky.social · Mar 7

Who is Jan Marsalek, the absconded fraudster and Russian spymaster to 3 Bulgarians convicted in the UK today?

Well, let me tell you a story about a high school drop-out who masterminded a $30bn financial fraud in the heart of Europe while trying to build a North African militia as a side hustle.

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Mar 7

The Wirecard fugitive, Russian intelligence and a Bulgarian spy ring -- what a London espionage trial tells us about the new life of Jan Marsalek. With Martha Muir, Daria Mosolova & @samgadjones.bsky.social

www.ft.com/content/d91d...

The Wirecard fugitive, Russian intelligence and a Bulgarian spy ring

A London espionage trial has provided rare insight into the activities of Jan Marsalek, the former payments executive, and how Moscow is outsourcing its spying

Reposted by Helen Warrell

Financial Times @financialtimes.com · Mar 1

James Bond, the British spy under US ownership

https://on.ft.com/41GDDET

James Bond, the British spy under US ownership

Ian Fleming’s fictional creation, a boon and burden to UK intelligence agencies, will now be defined by tech giant Amazon

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Dec 21

It's encouraging to see the Home Office take action & I hope this review will lead to wider awareness of the issue and better support for children like Josh, and his parents, who I wrote about in the original piece

www.ft.com/content/536c...

Weaponised autism and the extremist threat facing children

The UK’s ‘Prevent’ initiative was set up to identify young people prone to radicalisation. Are we now in danger of criminalising vulnerability?

Helen Warrell @helenwarrell.bsky.social · Dec 21

A few weeks ago I wrote for @financialtimes.com about the high number of autistic children being referred to the UK's Prevent deradicalisation programme. Now @yvettecooper-mp.bsky.social has announced a review into how Prevent manages people with neurodiversity diagnoses
www.ft.com/content/4218...

Home Office to review autism cases in anti-extremism unit

Study into Prevent programme comes after FT investigation exposing prevalence of autism in counter-terror casework