UK is not preparing mass evacuation of British citizens if Russian civil war breaks out

The UK is not drawing up a list of British citizens in Russia so it can airlift them in the event of civil war breaking out following the Wagner mutiny, i understands.

The move has been demanded by Commons Foreign Affairs Committee chair Alicia Kearns.

But Government officials believe there is little point in preparing for a mass evacuation given the Foreign Office has for two years warned against travel to Russia, and given the difficulty in extracting citizens from such a large and hostile country.

Former British ambassador Lord Ricketts told i the UK’s Embassy in Russia would however be updating consular contingency plans to help Brits “who might get caught up in fighting” and monitoring the “movements of Russian potential refugees towards the borders of European states.”

But no one in Government has confirmed whether the UK is preparing for huge numbers of Russian refugees leaving for Europe.

Meanwhile, Western leaders are likely to discuss how to maintain support for Ukraine in the event of a political crisis in Russia when they meet in Vilnius in two weeks.

Jonathan Eyal, of the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) defence think-tank told i it is “time to double down on support for Ukraine”, suggesting a summit on 11 July could be a “very important point to signal” the country was on a “direction of travel” to accede to Nato “when the circumstances to allow” and “thinking about security guarantees before then”.

Allies may also discuss making temporary deployments of Nato troops to the alliance’s border with Russia, for example in the Baltic states, permanent because “the alliance cannot bank on a moderate or cooperative leader in Moscow”, Mr Eyal said.

“They must plan for the worst,” he added.

It comes after Germany unveiled plans to station 4,000 soldiers permanently in Lithuania.

Mr Eyal said the northern Baltic states are “particularly vulnerable” because Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin is being given sanctuary in Belarus, which is becoming a satellite state of Russia.

But Nato allies are also likely to think about strengthening the alliance’s more southern borders with Belarus and Russia, in countries like Poland.

It came as Labour accused Rishi Sunak of letting Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin “bypass sanctions” during his time as chancellor so “he could abuse our courts to silence a British journalist”.

Mr Reed was referring to reports by media website openDemocracy that a Treasury team issued licences to allow lawyers to help Mr Prigozhin launch legal action against a Bellingcat journalist in the UK in 2021 while the Russian oligarch was subject to sanctions.

According to openDemocracy, the case taken by Mr Prigozhin against the journalist was a prime example of a slapp (strategic lawsuits against public participation), a legal threat often used by wealthy individuals and firms to try to stop journalists or campaigners from exposing wrongdoing under defamation and privacy laws.

When the reports were raised in January, former Treasury minister James Cartlidge said he would not comment publicly on the case of the Wagner Group chief but confirmed the Treasury was reviewing its processes.