Ken McCallum, Director of MI5.
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The head of Britain’s domestic spy agency accused Russian military intelligence on Tuesday of carrying out an “ongoing mission” to sow chaos in Britain and Europe.
MI5 chief Ken McCallum gave a rare public speech at the MI5 Counter Terrorism Operations Center in London explain The continued efforts by authoritarian states to undermine UK security represent “the most complex threat environment we have ever seen”.
McCullum said MI5 and police had foiled 43 late-stage attack plots since 2017, noting that some plotters were trying to obtain guns and explosives “in the final days of planning mass murder”.
The spy chief said the agency had to contend with a “dizzying” array of beliefs and ideologies, citing risks posed by Russia, Iran, China and others.
McCallum said the number of ongoing national threat investigations by MI5 increased by 48% last year.
McCallum said: “The UK’s leading role in supporting Ukraine means we figure prominently in the fevered imagination of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime and we should expect to see continued aggression at home.
He said the GRU – Russia’s military intelligence service – “has an ongoing mission to sow chaos on the streets of Britain and Europe: we’ve seen arson, vandalism and so on.”
A Russian foreign ministry spokesman had no immediate comment when reached by CNBC on Tuesday.
McCallum said that since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, more than 750 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Europe, “the vast majority of whom are spies.”
He added: “This goes far beyond all historical precedent and significantly reduces the ability of Russian intelligence services to inflict damage on the West.”
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