Alexander Topchy13:27, 12.02.23

7 min.341

According to leaked documents, Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian intelligence agencies to step up their recruitment of kamikaze spies in the UK.

Former British intelligence officials said the UK is currently Russia’s top target and will do everything it can to “get access to the people and put agents in the right places.”

Deputies and their staff were urged to remain vigilant as tensions with Moscow escalated over the war in Ukraine. The Sun writes about it .

A Russian intelligence source close to the Kremlin suggested that Moscow would “intensify undercover work with secret informants” across Britain.

“The other direction is to intensify undercover work with secret informants in all areas of British society, mainly among civil servants and politicians of all ranks – including members of Parliament and the House of Lords,” the letter said, available to The Sun.

The Russians also want to focus on finding “thugs who are ready to sacrifice themselves under any pretext”, such as “kamikaze torpedoes” who will agree to participate in sabotage. They want to pay special attention to activists of international student youth movements, trade unions, and leaders of various religious communities.

A Russian intelligence insider said that potential agents could be found “by increasing surveillance of the diplomatic personnel of the Russian embassy and consulates.”

Annie Mahon, a former Mi-5 intelligence officer, has no doubt that the Russians will try to infiltrate the UK and has warned that this will happen very quickly in light of the war in Ukraine.

According to Makhon, the Russian intelligence services will most likely try to attract agents using money, ideology, compromise and selfishness. They will seek out people who are sympathetic to the Russian cause, and usually offer huge amounts of cash and sell the “exciting” lifestyle of espionage.

“If I were Russian and paranoid like Putin, and when things go wrong in the war against Ukraine – in fact, a very strong proxy war – I would do everything in my power to get as much influence, power as possible and information from alleged Western enemies. The UK has been at the center of support for the Ukrainians in this fight, so it could be a natural target,” says Mahon.

The leaked documents suggest that Russian intelligence agencies will also try to recruit activists and religious communities, writes The Sun.

Mahon explained that the Russians might resort to Cold War tactics.

“It could be a throwback to the bad old Cold War days, when the UK, for example, investigated hundreds of thousands of British citizens for political subversion. The rationale for this was usually that a group of activists were getting money from Moscow to take to the streets, campaign and cause political pain. It would be one goal just to get people out on the streets and create noise. Recruiting people into these groups would be a mixture of money and ideology,” says the former Mi-5 officer.

According to her, the Russian special services can also blackmail “compromised” persons. “It could be a Brit in Russia working at the embassy or something like that. Or people who were set up by the secret services to look like they were going to be held accountable, but then a friendly person comes up and says: “We can do this, to make it all go away, but here’s what we want in return,” says Mahon.

But MPs will be alerted to “bait traps,” especially when they travel abroad, the intelligence officer said. “They are given very specific instructions on what they can and cannot use technologically, what they should and shouldn’t do if they are approached by a very beautiful woman or a handsome boy in a bar,” she said.

Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6, said Russian intelligence agencies would be looking for people who are sympathetic to Russia, or people who are vulnerable.

“We would be the main target because we are the main supporter of Ukraine. They will be very focused on the UK … to understand what is happening at the core of the government, about our attitude towards the war in Ukraine, about our relationship with the Ukrainians. We are in a situation of heightened hostility with Russia, so the activities of the special services will be very aggressive,” he told The Sun.

In light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, MP Chris Bryant said MPs had not been warned of the presence of Russian agents lately. But he previously told The Sun that there were probably a “handful” of Russian moles in parliament.

Bryant said those at Westminster should be more vigilant as Putin ramps up military rhetoric against the UK over its support for Ukraine. “If the war drags on, I think we’ll see Russia go back to the old Cold War-style espionage methods,” he said.

Government sources told The Sun that “Russia remains a top national security priority.” According to them, “the government has taken a number of actions to protect the UK from the malicious activities of Russia.

Russian spies – what is known

As UNIAN reported earlier, David Ballantyne Smith, a former security guard at the British Embassy in Berlin, pleaded guilty to spying for Russia while working in Germany. He was charged with passing information about persons working in the embassy to Russian officials and intelligence agencies, and with collecting additional information about the activities of the embassy.

Earlier, the head of British counterintelligence MI5, Ken McCallum, said that during the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, the Russian intelligence network abroad was dealt the most severe blow in modern history. He noted that more than 600 employees of Russian embassies were expelled around the world, of which, according to him, more than 400 were most likely spies. 23 Russian spies working under diplomatic cover were expelled from the UK alone, the head of MI5 said.

According to Western intelligence agencies, the largest number of Russian agents in Europe work in Germany under the guise of diplomats. Russian spies are found even in the government offices of the country. For example, at the end of August, it became known about two high-ranking officials from the German Ministry of Economics who are suspected of spying for Russia . And in October, the head of Germany’s national cybersecurity agency, Arne Schönbom, was fired over suspected ties to Russian intelligence.

(C)UNIAN 2023