Heathrow Airport was crippled by a mysterious fire at an electrical substation just days after the Prime Minister Keir Starmer toured our nuclear weapons
Fears Mad Vlad’s forces were behind the fire that brought Europe’s busiest airport to a standstill are growing as the clues pointing to “Russia sabotage” stack up. Experts have been warning the fire at a west London electrical substation – which cast the world into travel chaos and impacted nearly 300,000 passengers – has “all the hallmarks” of a Kremlin-organised attack.
Counter terror police are currently scouring the scene for indications of foul play as government secretary Ed Miliband said it was “too early” to tell the cause. However, the blaze follows a number of Russian intelligence-linked fires, bomb plots and even assassination attempts across Europe.
Military experts have also warned that a fire at a single electrical substation crippling an airport suggests a state-sponsored attack. It also wouldn’t be the first time Mad Vlad’s thugs carried out attacks on British soil.
Here are the five reasons that point to Russian involvement:
Previous British attacks
There are many other instances of Putin’s thugs attacking targets on British soil, with the infamous Salisbury poisonings the most prominent. The botched assassination attempt of former Russian military officer and double agent for British intelligence Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia dominated headlines for weeks in March 2018.
The pair were poisoned by means of a Novichok nerve agent and spent several weeks in intensive car before being released. The then-British government accused the Russian state of being behind the attack and expelled their diplomats.
World renowned war expert Anthony Glees said the fire shutting down Heathrow brought back memories of a British man pleading guilty of launching an arson attack on a Ukraine-linked business.
Mr Glees pointed out it isn’t the first time Mad Vlad’s forces set alight to infrastructure on the island of Britain. He said: “People like me think of the arrest of Jake Reeves, who was charged with firebombing a warehouse in Leyton, East London in March 2024, used for storing military equipment for Ukraine.
“Earl has pleaded guilty – in October 2024 – not just to the attack but, significantly, to recruiting others to work for the Russian intelligence services (he was the first person to be tried under the National Security Act 2023). The trial of others arrested with him has been fixed for 2 June 2025.
Ikea fire bomb
Last week, Lithuanian authorities accused Russian intelligence agencies of carrying out a firebomb attack on an Ikea story last year. Two “disposable agents” reportedly undertook the deed at in the country’s capital of Vilnius with one being paid a BMW and €10,000.
Prosecutors accused the GRU of orchestrating the firebombing because Ikea’s logo has the same colours as the Ukrainian flag. The Vilnius was linked to a huge shopping centre fire in neighbouring Poland that happened three days later and was also attributed to Russia.
Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the probe had “confirmed [their] suspicions” that the Russians had masterminded the two attacks.
He added: “Good to know before negotiations. Such is the nature of this state.”
Russian trolls
Kremlin-funded media outlets were quick to publish stories suggesting the Heathrow fire was the work of Putin’s forces. Several online trolls made sick jokes that the blaze was the work of would-be Salisbury assassins and Russian agents Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov.
A post under a Kremlin-funded news ost sneered yesterday: “Petrov and Boshirov came to see the cathedral again.” Another comment jibed: “Are Petrov and Boshirov on vacation?”
A third said: “Now Petrov and Boshirov went to see Big Ben. The excursion was a success.”
Prime Minister’s nuclear tour
Prof Anthony Glees pointed out the Prime Minister was on a tour of the UK’s nuclear weapons this week. He said:
“On Wednesday Sir Keir is seen on one of our Trident-armed Vanguard nuclear submarines, I think the first ever UK PM to ride the waves on one; yesterday he visited Barrow to lay the keel of the next generation of Dreadnought nuclear-armed, nuclear powered subs.
“The next day Heathrow is laid lame. That it was ‘turned off’ by Putin is a distinct possibility but of course we will have to wait and see.”
Russian ‘hallmarks’
Former Colonel Hamish de Bretton Gordon told The Sun: “This has all the hallmarks of Russian sabotage. There is still no hard evidence, but circumstantially, this is straight out of Moscow’s sabotage playbook.
“We don’t hear of substations catching fire very often. And for the back up system to fail was well. The timing is very suspicious.”
Security expert Will Geddes, director and founder of the International Corporate Protection Group, said: “Heathrow has been looking at expanding – this isn’t a great advert for their ability to do so safely.
“If I was a foreign hostile party and I wanted to disrupt one of the busiest airports in the world, cause international embarrassment, create many, many question marks, I would target something like a substation.”
Prof Glees said we must “immediately” find out whether Putin’s spies were behind the devastating Heathrow fire as he pointed out the Prime Minister was recently on a tour of our nuclear weapons.
He told the Daily Star: “There are more than 585,000 electricity substations in the UK, why there should have been an explosion and fire at this one may be a coincidence. But it may not be”.
Government comments
Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote on X: “I know the situation in Heathrow is causing distress and disruption, especially for those travelling or without power in their homes. I’m receiving regular updates and I’m in close contact with partners on the ground. Thanks to our emergency workers for keeping people safe.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Breakfast: “The grid has never seen an event quite like this. We will want to understand both the causes of this event and what lessons, if any, it can teach us.” He stressed that the priority right now is to put the fire out and restore power to stop the “terrible disruption” to passengers.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander wrote on X: “I’m receiving updates on the fast-moving situation at Heathrow Airport.
“I’m grateful to emergency services responding to the fire and National Grid for working to restore power to the airport and homes. I’d urge passengers not to travel to the airport and contact their airline.”
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