The Russian government is the “chief protagonist” in a campaign aimed at undermining western democracies, the head of the UK intelligence agency MI5, Andrew Parker, has said.



Speaking in Berlin on Monday, Parker listed a series of what he referred to as aggressive actions by Russia, including interference in elections, cyber-attacks, disinformation and criminal thuggery.

He drew a distinction between the Russian government and Russian people. “The chief protagonist among these hostile actors today is the Russian government. Notice I do not say Russia. The UK has the utmost admiration and respect for the people of Russia. For their proud culture and long history.

Timeline Poisoned umbrellas and polonium: Russian-linked UK deaths Show Hide Georgi Markov In one of the most chilling episodes of the cold war, the Bulgarian dissident was poisoned with a specially adapted umbrella on Waterloo Bridge. As he waited for a bus, Markov felt a sharp prick in his leg. The opposition activist, who was an irritant to the communist government of Bulgaria, died three days later. A deadly pellet containing ricin was found in his skin. His unknown assassin is thought to have been from the secret services in Bulgaria. Alexander Litvinenko The fatal poisoning of the former FSB officer sparked an international incident. Litvinenko fell ill after drinking tea laced with radioactive polonium. He met his killers in a bar of the Millennium hotel in Mayfair. The pair were Andrei Lugovoi – a former KGB officer turned businessman, who is now a deputy in Russia’s state Duma – and Dmitry Kovtun, a childhood friend of Lugovoi’s from a Soviet military family. Putin denied all involvement and refused to extradite either of the killers. German Gorbuntsov The exiled Russian banker survived an attempt on his life as he got out of a cab in east London. He was shot four times with a silenced pistol. He had been involved in a bitter dispute with two former business partners. Alexander Perepilichnyy The businessman collapsed while running near his home in Surrey. Traces of a chemical that can be found in the poisonous plant gelsemium were later found in his stomach. Before his death, Perepilichnyy was helping a specialist investment firm uncover a $230m Russian money-laundering operation, a pre-inquest hearing was told. Hermitage Capital Management claimed that Perepilichnyy could have been deliberately killed for helping it uncover the scam involving Russian officials. He may have eaten a popular Russian dish containing the herb sorrel on the day of his death, which could have been poisoned. Boris Berezovsky The exiled billionaire was found hanged in an apparent suicide after he had spent more than decade waging a high-profile media battle against his one-time protege Putin. A coroner recorded an open verdict after hearing conflicting expert evidence about the way he died. A pathologist who conducted a postmortem examination on the businessman’s body said he could not rule out murder. Scot Young An associate of Berezovsky whom he helped to launder money, he was found impaled on railings after he fell from a fourth-floor flat in central London. A coroner ruled that there was insufficient evidence of suicide. But Young, who was sent to prison in January 2013 for repeatedly refusing to reveal his finances during a divorce row, told his partner he was going to jump out of the window moments before he was found.

Skripal poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were were found unconscious on a bench in the Maltings shopping centre in Salisbury after 'suspected exposure to an unknown substance' which was later identified as chemical weapon novichok. In the aftermath Theresa May blamed Vladimir Putin and expelled 23 Russian diplomats who were suspected of spying. Two Russian men using the identities Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov were named as suspects. They appeared on Russian TV to protest their innocence.

The Skripals survived. However a local woman, Dawn Sturgess, died after spraying novichok on her wrists from a fake Nina Ricci perfume bottle converted into a dispenser, which had been recovered from a skip by her partner Charlie Rowley.

“We have no desire to escalate tensions or go back to the tense and dangerous times that Europe lived through during the cold war.” But the Kremlin would be called out for its actions, he said.

It was the first time a sitting director general of MI5 has spoken in public abroad. The objective was mainly intended to send a message to UK and European politicians not to allow Brexit to undermine European intelligence sharing.



Expanding on excerpts of his speech released in advance overnight, Parker, who disclosed he had studied Russia at university, said the Kremlin had the central and admirable aim of building greatness on the world stage and there were ways to pursue that through the rules-based international order.

But Russia instead had through its repeated choices pursued that aim instead through its military and intelligence services. Its default position when challenged was “bare-faced lying”.



“The Russian state’s now well-practised doctrine of blending media manipulation, social media disinformation and distortion along with new and old forms of espionage, and high-levels of cyber-attacks, military force and criminal thuggery is what is meant these days by the term hybrid threats.”

He cited the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, describing it as reckless, putting not only the former Russian military intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, at risk but numerous others in the community. The Skripals’ recovery was down to the “near miraculous” medical treatment they had received, Parker said.

Russia had offered 30 different alternative theories about the attack, which he described as criminal thuggery. “Whatever nonsense they conjure up, the case is clear,” he said.

Parker was speaking at a conference of intelligence officials organised by MI5’s German counterpart, the BFV.



He told them he was not a politician but went on to talk about the potential implications of Brexit. He stressed the UK was leaving the European Union but not Europe, and MI5 and its sister agencies MI6 and GCHQ were committed to continued cooperation in combating terrorism.

He said it was crucial this cooperation was not weakened. There were communal European laws and treaties within which the intelligence agencies worked and he hoped a comprehensive agreement on Brexit would be agreed to allow intelligence agencies to continue with their joint work.



There is concern about laws governing data-sharing and privacy, as well as cooperation in the sharing of airline passenger lists. On top of this is the system of European warrants.

He hoped a comprehensive agreement on Brexit would be agreed that tackled obstacles and allowed intelligence professionals to get on with their joint work.



He added that although Islamic State had lost territory in Iraq and Syria, the threat it posed would have to be faced for years to come.

