The Russian military intelligence agency, as well as Tehran, are persistently trying to carry out terrorist actions in the United Kingdom and Europe, the head of British counterintelligence has warned.

In his annual report on security threats to Britain, Ken McCallum pointed out that in the past two years the Security Service has detected and prevented dozens of attacks planned by the Russian military intelligence service GRU, but also by agents of Iran, Islamist extremists and right-wing terrorists.

"The complex mix of terrorist and state threats means MI-5 has its hands full," warned Ken McCallum, using the popular acronym for Military Intelligence's Sector 5.

The head of MI-5 pointed out that after British support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, GRU agents carried out "sabotages, arson and other dangerous actions, with increased brazenness". In the same period, the threat from Tehran also increased, which is associated with support for mass protests across Iran in 2022.

- The leading role of the United Kingdom in supporting Ukraine means that we occupy a large space in the heated imagination of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's regime - said McCallum.

He warned that due to this type of threats, "further acts of aggression on British territory" can be expected. The UK terror threat level is now 'significant', meaning a terrorist attack is likely.

– Make your head spin with the number of beliefs and ideologies that MI-5 had to deal with. The first 20 years of my career were filled with terrorist threats. Now we are also facing plans for assassinations and sabotages supported by states, while there is a major ground war in Europe - said the head of MI-5.

Mercenaries for dirty deeds

London's counterintelligence actions over the past few years have not quelled the threat, but merely changed its form. Since the start of the military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, more than 750 Russian diplomats have been expelled from Europe.

- Most of them were spies - noted McCallum.

It did not grant diplomatic visas to people whom Britain or its allies considered spies.

This seriously disrupted the operation of the Russian intelligence services, the head of MI-5 claims, but also forced them to divert "dirty actions" through other channels - private operatives or criminals. This, however, affected the "professionalism" of operations and made detection and prevention easier.

Of the 5 Iranian-backed actions that were responded to, the MI10 chief said they were "potentially lethal threats to British people and other residents of the United Kingdom". In last year's report he reported XNUMX threats to Iranians living in the UK. The threats have increased following mass protests in Iran over the death of Mahsa Amini, who died in prison after being detained for improperly wearing a headscarf in public.

- We witnessed threat after threat, with a frequency and scale that has never been seen before - said McCallum.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State

A new and major risk factor is Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza, against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the skirmish with Iran.

– As the war in the Middle East continues, MI-5 will devote full attention to the risk of strengthening and expanding Iranian state aggression against the United Kingdom. So far, there is no direct link between the growing threat to security in Britain and Israeli interventions in Gaza and Lebanon, other than frequent hate speech and challenges in local communities, which are being dealt with by the police. But terrorist threats have been evolving for a long time. The waves of the conflict in that region will not immediately hit our coast - said the head of the British counterintelligence in the annual report.

The revival of the Islamic State jihadist group in Afghanistan also contributes to Islamist threats, where the Taliban authorities are once again "exporting terrorism". The threat from the al-Qaeda group, which the wars in the Middle East are helping to expand its calls for violent action, has also increased.

Counterintelligence is focused on rebuilding the branch of the Islamic State group in the Afghan province of Khorasan. The ISHP group claimed responsibility for the attack on concertgoers in Moscow in March this year, when 145 people were killed.

The main threat to the UK and to Europe as a whole, however, is still Islamist extremists and members and sympathizers of the far right.

Since 2017, a total of 43 plans for "mass murders" using explosives or firearms have been discovered and prevented at a "late stage". The percentage of anti-terrorist investigations remained almost unchanged – three-quarters of the cases were aimed at Islamist extremism, and one-quarter at threats from extreme right-wing terrorism.

Recruiting minors

As a particularly worrying fact, he highlighted the increase in the number of young people who are attracted to extremist groups. As many as 18 percent of the persons investigated for terrorist threats are under the age of 13. That percentage has tripled in three years.

McCallum warned that the increased access to the Internet is a major factor in the increase in the number of minors attracted to extremism.

– Unfortunately, we see too many cases in which many young people are drawn into poisonous extremism on the net. Extreme right-wing terrorism is especially aimed at young people, reinforced by propaganda - said the head of the British counterintelligence.

He added that a high percentage of the threats came from "independent individuals who were indoctrinated over the Internet."

– In the dark corners of the internet, it's easy to get a message across. It is a complex matter to separate the real planners from the "armchair extremists". Anonymous connections are often unimportant, but a small part of them lead to deadly and real actions - warned Ken McCallum, the head of the British counterintelligence service.

The Department of Homeland Security recently released a report stating that in the first half of this year alone, 242 people were detained on suspicion of terrorist activities. Of them, 40 were younger than 17 years old. During an investigation into a threat from a neo-Nazi group, it was discovered that one of the suspected internet users was 13 years old.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the findings from the MI5 chief's report as "sobering revelations" but at the same time sought to reassure the public.

- Our public should be reminded that our security services are world class and that they will do everything to keep us safe - said the Prime Minister.