A posh flat overlooking MI6's headquarters has raised security concerns for British spies, according to an investigation.<\/p>\n
The \u00a31.2m penthouse is located within the St George Wharf development in Vauxhall, south London, and looks out directly onto the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) building. However, the swanky property's Russian owners have now reportedly sparked worry for agents.<\/p>\n
The flat's current owners can be traced back to a Soviet-era property about 300m away from the State Scientific Research Institute for Organic Chemistry and Technology \u2013 the Russian intelligence chemical site that developed the deadly toxins Novichok, an investigation by i found.<\/p>\n
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The owners don't have proven direct links to the Russian facility. However, three senior UK intelligence sources allegedly told the publication the fact the company's address in Moscow was so close to the factory is "not a coincidence."<\/p>\n
The three insiders are a recently retired Foreign Office intelligence analyst, a former Foreign Office counterintelligence officer, and a current GCHQ source. They added the property had the perfect vantage point to allow anyone inside to see who was coming and going from the MI6 building, the I reported. <\/p>\n
This means they could possibly work out who is working as a British spy. Two of the sources said the findings should be investigated by the UK government and security services.<\/p>\n
A counterintelligence officer added the discovery is a "thread that needs to be pulled." <\/p>\n
"This is a significant finding," they said. <\/p>\n
"It needs to be looked into."<\/p>\n
The flat is said to be currently registered to Poresso Group Ltd, a Russian company with a listed address in Moscow, just a stone's throw from the Kremlin's nerve agents supplier. The chemical weapons have been used in state assassinations.<\/p>\n
The company's address in the Russian capital could not be more different from its London property. The building on the side of a motorway in eastern Moscow is understood to play host to a series of drab 1940s apartments, which are being flogged for about \u00a340,000.<\/p>\n
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Poresso Group has two Russian directors listed on Companies House. However, i's investigation couldn't find any sign of the directors or their current whereabouts.<\/p>\n
The former intelligence officer at the Foreign Office added the Russian owners were "smart enough" to avoid an obvious link to the company, which is sanctioned by the US and EU.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Alicia Kearns, the Conservative chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said "additional scrutiny" should be put in place around the secretive London building.<\/p>\n
"It\u2019s no surprise that hostile states are buying up properties for surveillance purposes \u2013 but it\u2019s the Government\u2019s job to stop them by working with neighbouring buildings," she said. "I used to work from a high rise next to SIS \u2013 from our windows we were able to identify both individuals and patterns of behaviour."<\/p>\n
The Daily Star has contacted the National Crime Agency (NCA), the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office for comment.<\/p>\n
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