"Kick them out!" - MI5 Chief Urges Removal of Russian "Diplomats" and Warns of "Staggering" Rise in Deadly Plots by Russia and Iran
MI5 Director General of Security Ken McCallum this week provided the first update on threats to the UK since 2022. He announced a broad assessment of threats from the Middle East and Russia.
The UK is facing a ‘staggering increase’ in attempted assassinations, sabotage and other crimes on UK soil by Russia and Iran as the two states recruit criminals to ‘do their dirty work’, said Ken McCallum.
The Director General of MI5 reminded that more than 750 Russian diplomats were expelled from Europe after Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The vast majority of those expelled were spies.
‘This goes beyond all historical precedent - and has caused great damage to the ability of Russian intelligence services to harm the West. Together with our allies, we are continuing this pressure by denying diplomatic visas to Russian spies. It's not flashy, but it works. Get them out, keep them out,’ Ken McCallum stressed.
The MI5 director general also said that his agents and police had uncovered 20 ‘potentially deadly’ plots supported by Iran since 2022. He warned that Iran could expand its targets in the United Kingdom if conflicts in the Middle East deepen.
So far, the threats have been directed at Iranians abroad who oppose the country's government. But McCallum said there is a risk of ‘an increase - or expansion - of Iranian state aggression in the UK’ if the crisis in the Middle East escalates, with Israel launching a major attack in response to Iran's recent rocket attack.
McCallum added that hostile states, radicalised individuals and the resurgent Islamic State group have combined to create ‘the most complex and interconnected threat environment we have ever seen’.
He warned that there is now a heightened threat of terrorism from al-Qaeda ‘and in particular’ from ISIS, also known as Islamic State and Islamic State. This group burst into the international consciousness in 2014 when its fighters seized large parts of northwestern Iraq and eastern Syria.