PARIS: Britain’s foreign spy chief accused Russia on Friday of waging a “staggeringly reckless campaign” of sabotage in Europe while also stepping up its nuclear sabre-rattling to scare other countries off from backing Ukraine.
Richard Moore, head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service known as MI6, said that any softening in support for Ukraine against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion would embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies.
In what appeared a message to incoming US President Donald Trump’s administration and some European allies that have questioned continued support for Ukraine in the grinding war, Moore argued that Europe and its transatlantic partners must hold firm in the face of what he said was growing aggression.
“We have recently uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe, even as Putin and his acolytes resort to nuclear sabre-rattling to sow fear about the consequences of aiding Ukraine,” he said in a speech in Paris.
“The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known but the cost of not doing so would be infinitely higher. If Putin succeeds China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous.”
In September, Moore said Russia’s intelligence services had gone “a bit feral” in the latest warning by NATO and other Western spy chiefs about what they call hostile Russian actions, ranging from repeated cyberattacks to Moscow-linked arson.
Moscow has denied responsibility for all such incidents. The Russian embassy in London did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Moore’s remarks.
Last month the UK’s domestic spy chief said Russia’s GRU military intelligence service was seeking to cause “mayhem.” Sources familiar with US intelligence have told Reuters Moscow is likely to step up its campaign against European targets to increase pressure on the West over its support for Kyiv.

LOOKING FORWARD TO TRUMP
Much of Moore’s speech was focused on the importance of Western solidarity, saying the collective strength of Britain’s allies would outmatch Putin who, he said, was becoming increasingly in hock to China, North Korea and Iran.
Trump, who has vowed to quickly end the war in Ukraine, without saying how, and other Republicans in the US have expressed reservations about Washington’s strong strategic support and heavy weapons supplies for Kyiv.
“If Putin is allowed to succeed in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there. Our security — British, French, European and transatlantic — will be jeopardized,” Moore said.
In general terms, Moore said the world was in its most dangerous state in his 37 years working in the intelligence world, with Daesh on the rise again, Iran’s nuclear ambitions a continued threat, and the radicalising impact of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel not yet fully known.
Nicolas Lerner, head of France’s foreign spy agency DGSE, said French and UK intelligence were working closely together “to face what is undoubtedly one of the threats — if not the threat — in my opinion, the possible atomic proliferation in Iran.” Iran has repeatedly denied seeking nuclear weapons.

PARIS: French authorities arrested 26 people and seized 11 million euros ($12 million) as they smashed a migrant trafficking ring suspected of bringing several thousand people from South Asia into France, border police told AFP on Thursday.
Charging between 15,000 and 26,000 euros per person, the traffickers are suspected of having smuggled several thousand people from India, Sri Lanka and Nepal into France since September 2021, the force said.
Authorities estimate the network generated several million euros in illegal profits, which were laundered through construction companies, gold trafficking and informal transfers of money back to South Asia.
The arrests took place between March and November 2024, said Julien Gentile, director of the French border force at Paris Charles De Gaulle airport.
“The smugglers facilitated migrants’ travel to the European Union via Dubai or African states, while providing them with illegally obtained tourist, work or medical visas,” said Gentile.
The head of the network is still at large, with France’s request for his extradition from Dubai yet to be agreed, according to the border force.
Of the 26 men arrested, 15 were placed in pre-trial detention with seven under judicial supervision.
The remaining four, who were recently arrested, were to be presented on Thursday to the investigating judge.
The 11 million euros’ worth of assets included properties, luxury cars, jewelry and gold.
Those arrested are accused of belonging to different levels of the gang, ranging from smugglers to money launderers and shady finance brokers.
“This is the exceptional nature of the case,” Gentile added.
Details of the investigation by France’s Office for the Fight against the Illicit Traffic of Migrants, were released with migration becoming a key issue for French political parties.
The conservative government that took office in September has said it will clampdown, while France has also faced pressure over undocumented migrants crossing the Channel to Britain from its northern coast.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was to visit the Calais region on Friday for talks with local mayors on the migrant crisis. At least 72 undocumented migrants have died this year trying to cross the Channel.
The mayors have asked for more police and a tougher clampdown on the smuggling gangs.
Retailleau is also to go to London on December 8-9 for talks on the migrants.
Human trafficking carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in France.
In December 2023, a plane carrying hundreds of Indian passengers was grounded for days at Vatry airport east of Paris over concerns it was part of a human trafficking scheme.
The plane had taken off from the United Arab Emirates and was detained after an anonymous tipoff.