Recently, the head of British intelligence agency stated that Russian intelligence agencies are trying to create “chaos” in the UK and Europe, while the threats from resurging Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) are also escalating.
On Tuesday, the director general of MI5, Ken McCallum, presented the latest annual assessment of security threats facing the UK, saying that following the Russia-Ukraine war, the Russian military intelligence agency GRU had carried out “arson, sabotage, and increasingly reckless hostile acts” in the UK.
“GRU has been on a mission to sow chaos on the streets of the UK and Europe. We have seen incidents of arson and sabotage.”
However, McCallum declined to provide further details.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, over 750 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Europe. The most recent expulsion was a Russian military intelligence officer kicked out of the UK earlier this year. Nevertheless, Russian state institutions are turning to using proxies and other organizations to carry out their missions.
The Russian embassy in London firmly denied these “baseless accusations,” stating that McCallum is resorting to intimidation tactics to maintain UK support for Ukrainian public opinion.
McCallum highlighted that the threats posed by resurgent Al-Qaeda and ISIS are the most significant “terrorism threats.” He also accused Iran as the mastermind behind a series of premeditated attacks on UK soil.
Since January 2022, MI5 and law enforcement have responded to 20 Iran-linked conspiracies, which could pose lethal threats to British citizens and residents.
He said, “In the UK, we have witnessed one conspiracy after another, at a pace and scale unprecedented.”
McCallum noted that due to Russia and Iran turning to employing criminals, drug dealers, and proxies to carry out their “dirty work,” investigations into threats to UK national security increased by 48% last year.
Since March 2017, MI5 and UK police have thwarted 43 conspiracies in their final stages, some of which were just days away from widespread murder plots.
Additionally, McCallum warned that an increasing number of young people are being lured into online extremism.
Among those under investigation for terrorism, approximately 13% are under 18 years old, a figure that has tripled over the past three years. Security agencies have found that “too many young people are being drawn into toxic networks of online extremism.”
Data released by the UK Home Office last month revealed that out of 242 individuals detained for suspected terrorism offenses as of June this year, 17% (40 individuals) were aged under 17.
While McCallum’s speech on Tuesday primarily focused on the national threats posed by Russia and Iran, he also briefly mentioned the threat from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
He told reporters that the CCP has a program to steal data and information, stating, “We have seen China (CCP) engage in 20,000 blurred contacts with individuals.”
(This article referenced reports from Reuters and the BBC)