Reuters

La Jornada Newspaper
Wednesday, October 9, 2024, p. 23

London. Russian military intelligence (GRU) is trying to cause chaos in the United Kingdom and Europe, the head of British national intelligence denounced yesterday, while a growing terrorist threat from Al Qaeda and the Islamic State is his greatest concern.

In an annual speech, the director general of the Security Service (MI5), Ken McCallum, also accused Iran of being behind plot after plot on British soil.

McCallum said investigations into state threats had increased 48 percent in the last year, as Russia and Iran turned to criminals, drug traffickers and middlemen to carry out their dirty work.

Make no doubt that MI5 has a huge job on its hands, he said.

Outlining the threats to Britain, McCallum asserted that since March 2017, MI5 and British police had foiled 43 late-stage plots, some of which were in the final days of planning for mass murders.

Likewise, he indicated that the terrorist trend that concerns him most is an increase in the threat from Al Qaeda, which seeks to profit from the conflict in the Middle East, and especially from the Islamic State, which has resumed its efforts to export terrorism, citing the attack to a Moscow concert hall in March.

However, much of McCallum’s speech focused on the state threats posed by Russia and Iran. Despite the expulsion of more than 750 Russian diplomats from Europe since Russia invaded Ukraine and the last Russian military intelligence officer from Britain this year, he said it is striking how Russian state actors are turning to intermediaries to do their work.

The GRU, in particular, is on a sustained mission to wreak havoc on British and European streets – we’ve seen arson, sabotage and more. Dangerous actions carried out with increasing recklessnesshe accused, declining to give more details.