Russia is preparing "physical attacks" on Western countries. Moscow wants to go further than just cyber attacks.
This was stated by the director of the Government Communications Center of Great Britain (GCHQ) Ann Kist-Butler at the CyberUK conference in Birmingham, reports The Telegraph.
The head of the secret service, which is responsible for conducting radio-electronic intelligence and protecting the information of the government and the army, in her first major speech, she emphasized the immediate threat from the Kremlin and the "epoch-like" risk that China poses to Britain and its allies.
According to Anne Kist-Butler, GCHQ believes that Moscow is looking to go further than just cyber attacks.
"GCHQ is increasingly concerned about growing links between Russian intelligence services and proxy groups to carry out cyber attacks, as well as suspicions of physical surveillance and sabotage operations," the statement said.
Kist-Butler emphasized that Moscow is "fostering and inspiring" cybercriminal groups, and "in some cases appears to be coordinating physical attacks against the West." For example, last week a British man was charged with setting fire to a building in London — later, the prosecutorʼs office accused him of working for the Russian PMV Wagner.
In her speech at the conference, the head of GCHQ noted that "Putin has not given up on his idea to subjugate the population of Ukraine." She added that Great Britainʼs support for Kyiv remains steadfast.
Britain also notes that China also poses a considerable danger to London.
- At the end of March, the United States and Great Britain accused China of a large-scale hacking attack that allegedly affected millions of people. Sanctions were imposed on Beijing for this.
- The Telegraph also wrote that Britain suspects Russia, China and Iran of spreading rumors about Princess Kate Middleton in order to destabilize the situation in the country.
- On May 7, hackers hacked the servers of the Ministry of Defense of Great Britain. The mass media believe that China may be behind the cyber attack.