U.S. Army Officer Detained in U.K. on Russia Espionage Suspicion Expected to Face British Charges

An American Army officer arrested in the United Kingdom on suspicion of spying for Russia did not pass any information to Moscow and is expected to be charged in Britain within days, a U.S. official said Thursday.

The British charges against Lt. Col. Brandon Tyner are expected Sunday or Monday, after which the intention is to prosecute him under the U.S. military justice system, the official said. No information reached Russian hands, the official added.

A second U.S. official confirmed Tyner’s name and said he had previously deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq and Qatar. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters.

Tyner was a senior human resources officer assigned to a NATO unit at a base near Gloucester, England. He was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service and obtaining or disclosing protected information.

The Metropolitan Police announced the arrest this week and said its counterterrorism forces worked closely with the FBI and the U.S. military.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Russia had any connection to the U.S. officer.

“This arrest does not concern us in any way. We don’t know what it’s connected to,” Peskov told journalists Wednesday, according to Russian news services. “We have nothing to do with this and it has nothing to do with us.”

Tyner was serving with NATO’s Allied Rapid Reaction Corps at Imjin Barracks near Gloucester. The multinational land unit within the NATO military alliance is designed to respond quickly to crises or short-notice operations. According to the unit’s website, it is made up of forces from 20 nations but is led by the British.

Police said the arrest was not related to other counterterrorism investigations, indicating no connection with a suspected terror plot linked to Iran in September at a U.S.-run base in Britain, RAF Fairford, near Gloucester.

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