The head of MI6 has urged Russians appalled by the horrors of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine to switch sides and spy for the UK to help end the bloodshed.
In an extraordinary public recruitment pitch, Sir Richard Moore used a speech to reveal a number of indiuals had already taken this step over the past 18 months since Russia launched its invasion.
He also said the Russian president was “under pressure” and had to cut a deal with the boss of the Wagner mercenary company to “save his own skin”.
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The chief of the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6, did not specify who his overtures were aimed at but disaffected Russian intelligence officers, military officials and diplomats would make valuable assets.
“There are many Russians today who are silently appalled by the sight of their armed forces pulverising Ukrainian cities, expelling innocent families from their homes and kidnapping thousands of children,” Sir Richard said.
“They are watching in horror as their soldiers ravage a kindred country. They know in their hearts that Putin’s case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent.”
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Sir Richard Moore
The spymaster, who rarely steps out of the shadows, made his remarks in a speech at the British embassy in the Czech capital, that was streamed live.
He drew on the historic horrors inflicted on his host country in 1968 – when the then Soviet Union violently crushed an uprising known as the Prague Spring.
The brutality prompted Russian officials, disgusted by what was happening, to defect and spy for the UK.
Sir Richard seemed to hope the carnage in Ukraine would stir a new wave of defections.
“As they witness the venality, infighting and callous incompetence of their leaders – the human factor at its worst – many more Russians are wrestling with the same dilemmas and the same tugs of conscience as their predecessors did in 1968,” he said.
“I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us.
“Our door is always open. We will handle their offers of help with the discretion and professionalism for which our service is famed.
“Their secrets will always be safe with us and together we will work to bring the bloodshed to an end. My service lives by the principle that our loyalty to our agents is lifelong and our gratitude eternal.”
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He also highlighted a short-lived mutiny in Russia last month by the head of the mercenary group Wagner, saying in a question and answer session after the speech that he thought Yevgeny Prigozhin was still “floating around” and had even been for tea with President Putin.
Sir Richard said the rebellion had exposed weakness and division at the heart of the Kremlin and that Putin had been forced to cut a deal with his former prodigy to “save his own skin”.
Asked by a journalist from the news website Politico, who conducted an interview with Sir Richard after his speech, whether Russia’s president was desperate or mad, the MI6 boss said: “He is clearly under pressure.”
He pointed to how a convoy of Wagner mercenaries were able last month to move towards Moscow in their aborted coup as a sign of a lack of grip on power.
As to whether the Wagner chief was still alive, Sir Richard said: “As far as we can tell, Prigozhin is floating around.
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“He went for tea with Putin to give him advice along with a number of others. Sometimes these things are mysterious even for me.”
He said the best way for the Kremlin to regain stability would be to withdraw its forces from Ukraine.
“No one wants to humiliate Putin – still less humiliate Russia, the great nation that he misrules. But the answer to these conundrums is very clear – to remove troops from Ukraine.”
His speech covered a range of other to, including the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and how computers would not replace human spies.
“In fact, the opposite is likely to be true. As AI trawls the ocean of open source, there will be even greater value in landing, with a well-cast fly, the secrets that lie beyond the reach of its nets,” the spy chief said.
The public outing was not all serious.
Sir Richard was asked about a pair of cufflinks he was wearing – Marmite pots, one saying “love” and the other saying “hate”, in a nod to the divisive sandwich filling.
He joked about how he was doing his bit to help sell British produce to the Czechs.
