MI5 chief: Russia remains Britainʼs №1 aggressor

Russia remains the main state threat to Britain and is intensifying hybrid warfare against the country and its allies, despite minimal successes in the war against Ukraine.

This was stated by the head of the British counterintelligence service MI5 Ken McCallum in his annual report on threats to the country, the BBC and The New York Times write.

He said the number of foreign threats MI5 deals with has quadrupled in the past decade, and the service is now spending more resources on countering them than it did during the Cold War.

McCallum called Russia Britainʼs "№1 aggressor". He said Moscow is using sabotage, cyberattacks, bomb threats and other methods of hybrid warfare against countries that support Ukraine.

In this way, Moscow seeks to destabilize Europe and weaken support for Ukraine. At the same time, its progress in the war against Ukraine, according to McCallum, remains “minimal and terribly expensive”.

"These are not the actions of a great power with a strategic advantage," McCallum said.

He also warned of growing threats from Iran. Over the past year, more than 50 people have been arrested in Britain in connection with Iranian operations. According to MI5, Tehran has targeted Jewish communities in particular and is now trying to attack more sophisticated targets, such as military installations.

Separately, McCallum said that terrorists are already trying to use artificial intelligence for reconnaissance and preparation of drone attacks. His biggest concern is the possibility that extremists will use AI to create biological weapons.

Due to new threats, MI5 has created a separate center to assess the risks associated with artificial intelligence.

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