President Vladimir Putin praised the skill and "unique abilities" of Russia's military spies on Friday in a show of support for an intelligence agency that the West has blamed for a string of brazen attacks.

At a ceremony marking the centenary of Russia's military intelligence agency, Putin, in comments likely to be seen as provocative in the West, saluted its operatives for carrying out daring special operations and said they provided a model for a future generation.

Britain has accused the GRU agency of attempting to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury, the Netherlands has accused it of trying to hack the global chemical weapons watchdog, and U.S. intelligence agencies have accused it of trying to hack the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Russia denies all those allegations.

"As supreme commander, I, of course, know with no exaggeration about your unique abilities including in conducting special operations," said Putin.

"I am confident of your professionalism, of your personal daring and decisiveness and that each of you will do all that is required by Russia and our people."