Russian spies plotting to cause ‘mayhem’ on streets of UK and Europe

The Russian intelligence service is on “a sustained mission to generate mayhem” on UK streets, the head of MI5 has warned.

Ken McCallum said GRU agents have carried out “arson, sabotage and more dangerous actions” in Britain amid the UK’s support for Ukraine in the war between the two nations.

Speaking at the counter-terrorism operations centre in west London on Tuesday, he said: “The UK’s leading role in supporting Ukraine means we loom large in the fevered imagination of (Russian president Vladimir) Putin’s regime and we should expect to see continued acts of aggression here at home.

“The GRU (Russian military intelligence) in particular is on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets.

“We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness and having precisely the opposite effect of what the Russian state intends in driving increased operational co-ordination with partners across Europe and beyond.”

In the last year, he said the number of state threat investigations – inquiries into plots by hostile states – had surged by 48%.

Outlining the broad range of threats faced by the security service, he said the agency is facing terrorist threats “alongside state-backed sabotage and assassination plots, against the backdrop of a major European land war”.

MI5 has responded to 20 Iran-backed plots since January 2022 that presented potentially lethal threats to British citizens and UK residents.

Mr McCallum said both Russia and Iran have turned to employing criminals and private intelligence officers in the UK to do their work on British soil.

He said: “The more eye-catching shift this year has been Russian state actors turning to proxies for their dirty work, including private intelligence operatives and criminals from both the UK and third countries.

“Like the Russian services, Iranian state actors make extensive use of criminals as proxies – from international drug traffickers to low-level crooks.”

He warned anyone in the UK willing to take money from the nations: “This would be a choice you would regret.

“The full weight of the national security apparatus would be brought down on you.”

The expulsion of hundreds of Russian diplomats from across Europe has meant the intelligence service is more reliant on cyber.

“We should expect further testing – and in places defeating of the West’s cyber defences,” he warned.