UK: MI5 chief says expulsion of Russian spies from Europe is a ‘significant strategic blow’ to Moscow

The expulsion of more than 400 suspected Russian spies across Europe was a “significant strategic blow” to Moscow, a top British intelligence official said on Wednesday.

Ken McCallum, the director general of the country’s security services (MI5),made the remarks at the annual update on the threats to the UK.

The spy chief also said that Britain faces major security threats from Russia, China and Iran.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

The MI5 chief said that his agency has blocked more than 100 attempts by the Kremlin to send suspected spies since the nerve agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK in 2018.

Reportedly, this incident prompted a wave of diplomatic expulsions.

Recently, a significant number of Russian officials had been expelled from across the world including over 600 from Europe, at least 400 of whom were suspected to be spies.

“In the UK’s case, since our removal for 23 Russian spies posing as diplomats, we have refused on national security grounds over 100 diplomatic visa applications”, said McCallum at the MI5 headquarters in London.

ALSO READ:Missile that landed in Poland 'came' from Ukraine, but US says 'Russia bears ultimate responsibility'

He added, “that the UK must be ready for Russian aggression for years to come.”

The recent expulsions have also “struck the most significant strategic blow against the Russian Intelligence Services in recent European history.

And together with coordinated waves of sanctions, the scale has taken (Russian President Vladimir) Putin by surprise.”

The UK has also been one of the strongest supporters of Ukraine among other western countries in light of the ongoing Russian invasion, and it was important especially when Moscow made “silly claims” about Britain's blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines, said the MI5 chief.

McCallum also went on to address the growing threat from Iran as the state that “most frequently crosses into terrorism.”

He spoke about how the country’s “aggressive intelligence services” made at least 10 attempts to “kidnap or even kill British or UK-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime,” since the beginning of this year alone.

ALSO WATCH:Gravitas: FBI and MI5 chiefs flag China threat

This comes a week after Iran’s deputy ambassador was summoned by the UK’s Foreign Office over allegations that two London-based journalists were facing death threats from state-backed agents for their reporting on the protests in Tehran.

The British police had reportedly warned the two journalists about “an imminent, credible and significant risk to their lives and those of their families.”

Addressing China, McCallum said that “the activities of the Chinese Communist Party pose the most game-changing strategic challenge to the UK” and said that the country is “playing the long game in cultivating contacts to manipulate opinion” in Beijing’s favour. The contacts he is referring to are not just prominent lawmakers across the country’s political landscape but also local councillors and their goal is to gradually build “a debt of obligation,” said the MI5 chief.

McCallum also accused Beijing of monitoring and intimidating the Chinese nationals in the UK, who is also “forcibly repatriating” them to harassment and assault. He believes that these activities may grow with time, especially since Chinese President Xi Jinping has consolidated power on an “indefinite basis.”

ALSO READ:Iran issues second death sentence to ‘rioter’ linked to ‘anti-hijab’ protests

This comes after UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called China a “systemic challenge” to the country’s values and interests, and “represents the biggest state-based threat to our economic security.”

“We are facing adversaries who have massive scale and are not squeamish about the tactics they deploy,” he said while talking about the risk of Russia, China and Iran helping each other to amplify their strengths, said McCallum.

Meanwhile, the threat that terrorism poses still remained at the forefront with the McCallum saying that they had disrupted at least 37 “late stage” attack plots since 2017, eight of them since last June. “We are seeing growing numbers of right-wing extremist influencers, operating globally, fuel grievances and amplify conspiracy theories,” said the MI5 chief.

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.