Russian officials just piped up over MI5′s recent warning Moscow agents are looking to cause “mayhem” on British streets and wrote the claims off as “scare tactics”. On Tuesday, MI5′s director-general Ken McCallum claimed Vladimir Putin’s “henchmen” were looking to strike away from the battlefield “in the misguided hope of weakening Western resolve”.

The head of Britain’s domestic security service said Russia’s military intelligence service was pursuing “dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness.”

In a rare public speech setting out the major threats to the United Kingdom, Ken McCallum argued that hostile states, radicalized individuals, and a revived Islamic State group have combined to create “the most complex and interconnected threat environment we’ve ever seen.

MI5's Ken McCallum warns of Russian chaos, Iran plots, rising terror threats, and increasing youth radicalisation in the UK.

Russia's intelligence agency has been on a mission to generate "sustained mayhem on British and European streets", the head of MI5 has said.

Russian military intelligence is seeking to cause "mayhem" across Britain and Europe, the UK's domestic spy chief said on Tuesday, while a growing threat from al Qaeda and Islamic State was his greatest terrorism concern.

Russian spies are “on a sustained mission to generate mayhem in British streets”, the head of MI5 has said. Ken McCallum said that as the war in Ukraine continues, the security services were seeing “Putin’s henchmen seeking to strike elsewhere in the misguided hope of weakening Western resolve”.