MI5 chief: Russia remains 'aggressor number one,' Iran targets military sites
Ken McCallum warned of Moscow's hybrid warfare in his annual threat update and said the suspected plot against RAF Fairford was "not unique."
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The head of Britain's domestic intelligence agency MI5, Ken McCallum, has called Russia "aggressor number one." In his annual threat update on Tuesday at MI5's Thames House headquarters in London, he accused Moscow of waging hybrid warfare in Europe and trying to destabilize European countries. MI5 now devotes more resources to countering state threats than during the Cold War, Meduza reported, citing the BBC.
After the expulsion of Russian agents from Britain, Russia's intelligence services were "scrambling to pay criminals to do their bidding," McCallum said. This showed Russia was not acting like "a great power with the strategic upper hand." In Ukraine, Moscow was making only "minimal and horrifically costly" progress, he said.
McCallum also singled out Iran, saying Tehran was trying to hit military sites in the U.K., a "major shift this year." The suspected plot against the U.S.-run RAF Fairford base was "not unique," he said, according to AP. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has said the plot was "almost certainly" directed by Iran's Revolutionary Guard. Iran denies any involvement.