British spy in Cyprus: who is Rashad Sultanov and who is behind him?

The authorities of the United Kingdom have officially requested that Cyprus extradite Rashad Sultanov, a British citizen accused of espionage. His case is being heard by the Limassol jury court, and he is being held at the Central Prison in Nicosia.

Sultanov was detained by Cypriot police on June 21, 2025. He has been charged with a number of offenses related to terrorism and espionage. According to investigators, he used specialized equipment to secretly photograph classified military facilities at the British air base in Akrotiri and the Cypriot air base «Andreas Papandreou». Investigators claim that encrypted files with the images were sent to an intermediary linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

Cypriot security agencies received classified intelligence indicating that Sultanov was operating as part of an intelligence network. Investigators believe the organizer of this network was Elshad Elchin Hajiyev — a citizen of Azerbaijani-Iranian origin who coordinated data collection in Iran's interests. Since the offenses were committed in part on the territory of sovereign British bases, the United Kingdom is insisting on the accused's extradition.

On May 31, 2026, Sultanov's lawyer, Efstatios Efstathiou, filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The defense argues that the detention is unlawful because key classified intelligence materials on the basis of which the arrest was made were not properly disclosed to the court and the defense, and the legality of how they were obtained has not been confirmed.