MI5 head: Russia is "number one aggressor", we spend more on state threats than during Cold War

Britain's domestic security service MI5 is devoting more resources to combating state threats than during the Cold War period. Its head, Sir Ken McCallum, announced this.

According to him, threats from foreign adversaries have quadrupled over the past decade. McCallum named Russia the "number one aggressor" and added that Iran-linked aggression against Jewish sites and military bases has also increased.

According to McCallum, Russia is waging a hybrid war, while artificial intelligence is intensifying cyber security competition between attackers and defenders. He said MI5 "has uncovered terrorists who sought to misuse artificial intelligence", including through integrating this technology with drones. Regarding the malicious use of artificial intelligence, he named the biggest threat as extremist groups using this technology to expand both new and existing biological weapons capabilities.

Sir Ken said Russia has not moved to "conventional war" against NATO and is instead trying to destabilise European countries, while the full-scale invasion of Ukraine is accompanied by "insignificant and costly" progress. According to him, MI5's successful operations, which led to the exposure and expulsion of Russian spies from the UK, forced the Kremlin to pay money to performers to carry out planned attacks.

"Since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the expulsion of almost 1,000 Russian diplomats and agents has practically destroyed the Kremlin's traditional covert network, as a result of which its global operational capabilities have been weakened", McCallum said.

He was also asked about a recent statement by Prime Minister Andy Burnham that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum. McCallum replied that this is not new and that there is a difference between an attempt at interference and the result achieved.

According to him, publicly available information confirms that materials were published in Russian media and that "so-called internet trolls and bot farms" operated with the aim of influencing debates on Brexit. However, he stressed that the result of the 2016 referendum "is not in doubt".