Vladimir Putin's spies to ramp up attacks in UK as part of 'undeclared war' on the West

Russian spies will “step up” sabotage, kidnap and assassination conspiracies this year as part of an “undeclared war” against the UK and the West, a former spy chief has warned.

Sir Richard Dearlove, who ran MI6 for five years, warned the Kremlin is unlikely to support a ceasefire in Ukraine.

And Sir Richard told the Express that Moscow’s tactics allow the GRU military intelligence agency to mount “very aggressive” attacks in the West because the Russians “do not care” about the political risk.

The former spy head’s warning comes after new research, by the hugely respected think-tank Royal United Services Institute, declared “Russian-linked sabotage in Europe is no longer a collection of isolated criminal acts but a coordinated campaign that combines financial incentives, social media recruitment and deniable execution.”

Researchers revealed how Russian networks are becoming increasingly “transnational”, and because Moscow’s spies recruit “disposable” low-level criminals for operations, a campaign is “easy to scale and cheap to maintain”.

Sir Richard, in an interview with the Sunday Express, said: “Nothing has really changed except a continual, gradual escalation in grey warfare from the Russians against NATO countries.

“We’ve always been seen by the Russians as part of the main enemy.

“There’s been an active programme of sabotage and I think that they will continue and they will step it up because at the moment I’m cynical about the prospect of the Russians agreeing to any deal.”

Asked what message sabotage attacks send to the West, Sir Richard said: “That there is a high cost to supporting Ukraine, in a conflict that they see as being undeclared war with a number of European countries – ‘you’re going to pay a cost if you continue to do this’.”

Sir Richard warned the Russians “definitely” believe they are in an “undeclared war” with the West, adding: “If you read Russian tactical documentation that relates to the deployment of their military, this is absolutely from that textbook and they will continue to look for points of vulnerability and weakness without actually getting into direct conflict.

“I don’t think the Russians, in their current state, can afford a direct military confrontation. If they can’t win a war in Ukraine, taking on NATO is an altogether bigger problem.”

This view is echoed by researchers from RUSI, with agents tasked with carrying out “reconnaissance” or courier roles.

Authors Kinga Redlowska, Marta Popyk and Tom Keatinge added: “Although such assignments have no immediate physical effect and do not create any immediate disruption, they enable adversaries to map procedures, identify weak points in border and infrastructure security, and gradually recruit individuals into broader networks.

“Even unsuccessful actions can achieve sabotage objectives: they sow fear and confusion in Western societies, drain law-enforcement resources, expose vulnerabilities in infrastructure protection and help hostile actors to test response times and escalatory dynamics.

“The cumulative effect is greater than the individual impact of each action suggests.”

And criminals agree to work for Russian intelligence services because they are desperate for cash, RUSI researchers revealed.

They said: “Agents recruited through encrypted messaging apps have been offered explicit payments ranging from a few dollars for graffiti to $400 for installing a camera, and up to $10,000 for serious offences such as murder.

“Ukrainian nationals are often offered about 10% of the amounts paid to recruits in Western Europe.”

Sir Richard warned Russian operations have become increasingly brazen because the Kremlin does not care about the political risk.

Russian agents are believed to have detonated military-grade c4 on a railway line between Warsaw and Lublin, which is used to transport aid to Ukraine.

And Poland accused Russian intelligence services of orchestrating a massive fire that destroyed a shopping centre in the capital Warsaw in 2024.

Lithuanian authorities also accused Russia’s GRU military intelligence service of ‍masterminding attempted arson attacks on a plant that supplies radio wave scanners to Ukraine’s army.

Six nationals of Spain, Colombia, Cuba, Russia and Belarus were arrested and charged over the 2024 attacks, and each faces ⁠up to 15 years in jail if convicted.

In Britain, six men were jailed after an arson attack on a London warehouse providing aid to Ukraine.

Ringleader Dylan Earl was recruited by the Wagner Group, a mercenary organisation that acts on behalf of the Russian state, and he was also plotting to kidnap a wealthy Russian dissident.

The Ukrainian-owned warehouse they targeted had been used to send goods to Ukraine, including Starlink satellite terminals, and it required eight fire crews with 60 firefighters to get the blaze under control.

Earl was supposed to receive £9,000 for his role but was paid less because he carried out the plan early without his handler's sign-off.

Sir Richard told the Sunday Express: “At the moment, the Russian approach to that sort of deployment is they don’t care about the risk. They will undertake very aggressive attacks because of the context they are operating in.

“They will attempt all sorts of activities - ships dragging their anchors to break cables, damn the political risk, ‘we are going to disrupt’. The disruption is trying to bring home to people, generally, that there is a high cost to opposing Russia’s strategic interests.”

President Donald Trump is pushing Ukrainian war hero Volodomyr Zelensky and tyrant Vladimir Putin to strike a deal that will end the war.

Critics have accused the US leader of being too soft on Vladimir Putin.

But Sir Richard warned the GRU will still be trying to wreak havoc in the US, despite Mr Trump’s rhetoric towards the Russian leader.

He said: “Their espionage efforts never close down. They have a capability and they continue to use that. Part of the philosophy of the GRU is to have assets behind enemy lines that can then attack your critical infrastructure.

“There have been a host of incidents across Europe. This is part of their playbook.

“If you sat down and talked with the CIA, you would get a different picture. The idea that Russian intelligence has let up in any way in terms of the US, no way. The Trump desire to talk to Putin and have a negotiation hasn’t probably changed much in terms of the confrontation of intelligence assets.

Sir Richard, perhaps echoing the words of new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli, said British spies must go on the “attack”.

Ms Metreweli, in her first speech as “C”, vowed to hit back against tyrant Putin’s rampant campaign of sabotage.

She said: “We will never stoop to the tactics of our opponents. But we must seek to outplay them. In every domain. In every way.

“Intelligence must drive action. Action must deliver advantage.”

And Sir Richard told the Sunday Express: “Attack is the best form of defence - penetration of the Russian system so that we understand what’s going on.

“What you are looking at is making sure you damn well know what is happening, which means penetrating the Russian system at a high level.

“I would have thought, because of the inevitable controversy in Russia that we don’t talk about, it’s probably a very fruitful time for recruiting.

“I would have thought the services that are good at doing this would are pretty active at the moment and the opportunities, the situation in Moscow will be adverse because the Russians will be very aggressive to Western presence.”