The head of the British Security Service assures that Russian officials have been operating in recent years as "private intelligence agents". The director of the British MI5, Ken McCallum, has warned that Russia is encouraging "sustained violence on the streets of Europe" and instigating "arson,

The head of Britain’s domestic security service said Russia’s military intelligence service was pursuing “dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness.”

Ken McCallum said the number of state-threat investigations undertaken by MI5 has risen by 48 percent in the past year.

Britain is facing a “staggering rise” in assassination attempts on its soil by Russia and Iran, as the hostile states recruit criminals to “do their dirty work” for them, the head of the U.K.’s domestic intelligence agency warned Tuesday.

MI5 had also responded to 20 plots backed by Iran since 2022, he said, although he added the majority of its work still mostly involved Islamist extremism followed by extreme right-wing terrorism. The complex mix of terror-related threats and threats from nation states meant MI5 had "one hell of a job on its hands",

Russia's GRU military intelligence service is seeking to cause "mayhem" across Britain and Europe, the UK's domestic spy chief said on Tuesday, while a growing threat from resurgent al Qaeda and Islamic State was his greatest terrorism concern.

Russian military intelligence is seeking to cause "mayhem" across Britain and Europe, the UK's domestic spy chief said on Tuesday, while a growing threat from al Qaeda and Islamic State was his greatest terrorism concern.

Russian spies are “on a sustained mission to generate mayhem in British streets”, the head of MI5 has said. Ken McCallum said that as the war in Ukraine continues, the security services were seeing “Putin’s henchmen seeking to strike elsewhere in the misguided hope of weakening Western resolve”.

MI5 warns that Russia's intelligence agency is attempting to incite chaos in the U.K., particularly following the U.K.'s support for Ukraine.