Russian spies and the return of the Cold War

Last week’s arrest of a security guard employed at the British embassy in Berlin, on suspicion of spying for Russia, serves as a stark reminder that the UK and its allies are in the thick of a new Cold War.

With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent collapse of communist regimes, it appeared that the East-West stand-off had come to an end. Nato allies breathed a collective sigh of relief and looked to new horizons, believing their principal objective had been achieved and that Russia’s days as a superpower were consigned to the history books.

But in the intervening 30 years, after the initial hardships of the 1990s and the accession of Putin as president, Russia has sought to re-establish itself on the world stage. There can be little doubt that a second Cold War has crept upon our largely unsuspecting world.