The Prince of Wales, who is also the royal patron of intelligence services, made an unannounced visit to MI5 headquarters on Wednesday.
His surprise appearance comes after the rising tensions between the UK and Vladimir Putin.
The poisoning of Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, has caused much angst between the UK and Russia after it took place on British soil.
The Prince of Wales visit was listed in the Court Circular which shows past and present royal engagements. It revealed that Prince Charles was in attendance at Thames House, Millbank yesterday, which is the headquarters of the Security Service.
Prince Charles has been the head of all three of the main intelligence agencies since 2012 and has a keen interest in the work of the Secret Services.
And with yesterday marking the deadline for Vladimir Putin’s opportunity to explain Moscow’s rumored use of the chemical weapon used in Salisbury, the Prince of Wales’s visit to MI5 may be more important now than ever.
Putin was given until the end of Tuesday to confirm if the poisoning was a state attack, either that or he was given the chance to admit whether Russia had ‘lost control’ of the nerve agent used in the attack.
Despite a deadline being given however, the Russian Embassy in London refused to respond before it had received samples of the chemical.
A spokesperson for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, reiterated the claims made by Moscow which insist that the Kremlin had “no connection” to the poisoning.
He told Tass, a Russian news agency “Moscow’s stance is well-known, London was told about Moscow’s position through diplomatic channels. Moscow has no connection to the incident that took place in the United Kingdom.”
He continued “Moscow won’t accept absolutely unfounded accusations against it, which are not substantiated by any evidence, and won’t accept the language of ultimatum.”
And with tensions between the UK and Russia continuing to build, Theresa May has today confirmed that no member of the Royal Family will visit Russia for the world cup.
