The UK is at a “moment of consequence” as Russia is “relentlessly targeting” the country, the head of the UK’s largest spy agency has warned. Anne Keast-Butler, Director of the UK intelligence service GCHQ, has said Vladimir Putin’s country is deliberately threatening critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust in the UK in her inaugural public speech on Wednesday (May 27).
During her speech, Ms Keast-Butler outlined the threats facing the UK and the measures she believes are needed to counter them. Russia has been accused of a number of espionage plots on British territory and, more recently, of waging an undeclared hybrid war against the UK and other NATO countries – allegations that the Kremlin has denied. Ms Keast-Butler added that GCHQ is working tirelessly to repel cyberattacks and counter what she called “reckless sabotage and assassination attempts”.
The Kremlin has been blamed for the murder of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko using radioactive Polonium slipped into his tea in a London hotel in 2006. It was also blamed for the attempted assassination of a former Russian military intelligence officer, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury in 2018, using the lethal nerve agent Novichok smeared onto his front door handle. Russia has denied responsibility for both.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the UK’s ongoing support for Ukraine, Moscow has been accused of waging a “hybrid war” against Western countries.
The GCHQ boss also said: “As we remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine, Putin is going backwards on the battlefield.”
Ms Keast-Butler speech comes just a day after the UK imposed new sanctions on Russia, targetting its cryptocurrency networks which have been used to circumvent UK sanctions. However, last week, the Government introduced an exemption to sanctions against Russia allowing the import of diesel and aviation fuel produced from Russian crude oil in third countries.
The core mission of the GCHQ – short for Government Communications Headquarters – is to keep the country safe by intercepting and analysing communications, defending against cyber threats and cracking codes. Based in Cheltenham and housed in a huge circular building known as The Doughnut, it is one of three core agencies that make up the UK Intelligence and Security Community, alongside MI5 (internal security service) and MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service).
Through the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), GCHQ works to protect government systems, critical national infrastructure and the general public from hackers and hostile states by collecting, intercepting and analysing digital communications, internet traffic and electronic data.
