Russia is on a 'mission to cause chaos on British streets', MI5 chief warns

Russian intelligence has made it its mission to “cause ongoing chaos on British and European streets,” the head of MI5 said.

In his annual update on security threats in the UK, Ken McCallum said GRU agents had carried out “arson, sabotage and even more dangerous actions with increasing ruthlessness” in Britain after the UK supported Ukraine in its war with Russia.

MI5 had also responded to 20 Iran-backed attacks since 2022, although it added that the bulk of its work still mainly concerned Islamist extremism, followed by far-right terrorism.

The complex mix of terrorist threats and nation-state threats means MI5 has “a hell of a job ahead of it”, he warned.

In a far-reaching speechhe said:

• Young people are increasingly being drawn into online extremism, with 13% of those investigated for terrorist involvement being under 18 years old
• Since 2017, a total of 43 late-stage attacks using firearms and explosives to commit “mass murder” have been foiled in the UK
• The number of MI5 investigations into threats to the state had increased by 48%
• The work to combat terrorism remains divided: “75% Islamist extremism and 25% right-wing extremist terrorism”.

There is a “dizzying array of beliefs and ideologies” that MI5 has to contend with, he told the press conference at MI5's counter-terrorism operations center in London.

“The first 20 years of my career here were fraught with terrorist threats. Now we face these threats alongside state-sponsored assassinations and sabotage attacks, against the backdrop of a major European land war,” he said.

The UK's “leading role” in supporting Ukraine means that “we play a big role in the fevered imagination of the Putin regime” and that further aggression on British soil is to be expected, he warned.

The United Kingdom The current level of the terrorist threat is significant – meaning an attack is likely.

More than 750 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine, with “the vast majority” of them being spies, McCallum said.

This is affecting the effectiveness of Russia's intelligence services, he said, adding that British and allies considered Russian spies had been denied diplomatic visas.

Russian state actors turned to proxies such as private intelligence agents and criminals to do “their dirty work.” However, this affected the professionalism of their operations and made them easier to disrupt.

While Mr. McCallum has spoken publicly about both the Russian and Iranian threats before, he has never so clearly blamed Moscow.

In an earlier public address, he referred to 10 attacks against Iranians in the United Kingdom. That number has now doubled, suggesting that the Iranian state's activities are undeterred by the risk of being caught.

In both cases, Russia and Iran, the MI5 chief emphasized that they were increasingly turning to criminal underworld gangs because it was difficult or almost impossible for their accredited diplomats to carry out such actions.

Regarding China, he said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had a program to steal data and information from the United Kingdom and “we have seen 20,000 veiled overtures from China to individuals.”

The number of young people being drawn into online extremism is increasing, McCallum warned.

About 13% of people investigated for terrorist involvement were under 18 years old – a tripling in the last three years.

The security service sees “far too many cases in which very young people are drawn into toxic online extremism.”

“Far-right terrorism in particular is heavily targeted at young people, driven by propaganda that shows an astute understanding of online culture,” he said.

In response to questions from reporters, he reiterated concerns about the Internet's role as the “biggest factor” driving the trend, describing how easily teens could access material from their bedrooms.

Much of the threat comes from “individuals indoctrinated online,” he said.

“In dark corners of the internet, talk is cheap. “Distinguishing the real conspirators from armchair extremists is a challenging task,” he said.

“Anonymous online connections are often inconsequential, but a minority lead to deadly, real-world actions.”

Home Office figures released last month show that of the 242 people detained on suspicion of terrorist offenses in the year to June, 17% (40) were aged 17 and under.

Sir Keir Starmer acknowledged the “sober results” set out by Mr McCallum but said the public must be “reassured that our security services are world class and will do whatever is necessary to keep us safe”.