Britain may already be at war with Russia because of the depth and intensity of cyber-attacks, sabotage and other hostile activity orchestrated by Moscow against the UK, according to a former head of MI5.
According to The Guardian, Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led the domestic spy agency two decades ago, said she agreed with comments made by the Russia expert Fiona Hill, who argued in a Guardian interview earlier this year that Moscow was at war with the west.
Lady Manningham-Buller argued that the situation had changed “since the invasion of Ukraine and the various things I read about that the Russians have been doing here – sabotage, intelligence collection, attacking people and so on”.
Speaking on a podcast in which she was interviewed by the lord speaker, John McFall, she then referenced Hill, who advised Donald Trump during his first term as US president and co-authored the UK’s strategic defence review.
“I think she may be right in saying we’re already at war with Russia. It’s a different sort of war, but the hostility, the cyber-attacks, the physical attacks, the intelligence work is extensive,” she said.
Six Bulgarians living in the UK were jailed this year for their role in a spy ring conducting hostile surveillance around Europe, and five men were convicted for their involvement in an arson attack ordered by Moscow on a warehouse containing supplies destined for Ukraine.
