The head of MI6 said there are Russians already spying on Vladimir Putin’s regime for the U.K., and encouraged more to sign up.
Sir Richard Moore, speaking from the Czech Republic’s capital, Prague, on Wednesday, did not specify who he wanted to work on the intelligence agency’s behalf, but called for more spy recruits.
He said: “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.”
That’s a reference to how the Czech Republic (then Czechoslovakia) was invaded by Soviet Union troops in 1968 in a bid to stop a series of reforms happening across the country.
Moore continued: “I invite them [disillusioned Russians] to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us.”
He added that the U.K.’s “door is always open,” and that any offers of help will be met with “discretion and professionalism.”
He promised: “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.”
Before making this promise, the MI6 boss had emphasized the brutality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying: “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.
“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.”
There were a string of protests across Russia shortly after the invasion, which were quickly suppressed.
Moore also touched on the comments from the Wagner mercenary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin, emphasizing the division emerging even among those who have been at the forefront of the war effort.
Prigozhin undermined the very reasons behind Putin’s reasons for the invasion amid his own failed uprising against the Russian ministry of defense by claiming the invasion only happened to elevate the status of the defense minister Sergei Shoigu.
Moore quoted Prigozhin as saying, “the oligarch clan that rules Russia needed a war.” He added that the Wagner rebellion “exposed the inexorable decay of the unstable autocracy over which Putin presides.”
His comments come after growing speculation about how much support there really is for the war among the Russian public, after the latest spate of attacks on Russian-controlled land.
Drone attacks in Moscow, and explosions in the annexed peninsula of Crimea, as well as blasts on the Crimean bridge connecting it to Russia’s mainland, have all brought the reality of the war closer to home for Russian civilians.
Prigozhin’s rebellion was even reportedly able to seize a town without any resistance.
Moore’s comments are likely to have been aimed at Russian intelligence, security and military representatives.
For months, there have been reports of growing dissatisfaction among Russian military ranks, as they face low morale, a depleted force and a dwindling artillery supply.