The head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service used a rare speech on Wednesday to appeal to disgruntled Russians to spy for the UK.
Speaking in Prague, Richard Moore urged Russians “struggling with their conscience” to take a stand against the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin and offered them the opportunity to “share secrets with MI6”.
Moore went on to say that “there are many Russians today who are silently appalled at the sight of their armed forces razing Ukrainian cities to the ground, driving innocent families from their homes and kidnapping thousands of children.”
“They watch in horror as their soldiers ravage their kindred country. Deep down they know that Putin’s case of an attack on a kindred Slavic people is falsified, ”he added.
In response, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that all citizens dissatisfied with the Putin regime and prone to spying for Western intelligence should think again, warning of an outcome similar to that of the Skripals .
“As for “open doors and keeping secrets,” you might be believed if you showed us the Skripals. Usually those who believe and trust you end up being destroyed by you first,” Maria Zakharova said in a statement posted Wednesday on her Telegram channel.
In March 2018, former GRU officer Sergei Skripal, convicted in Russia for high treason, and his daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury, England. Moscow has denied involvement, as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said there was no evidence of Russia’s guilt in the case.
Zakharova also snubbed Moore’s claims that Russia would not be able to gain momentum in the war after the head of MI6 expressed “optimism” that Ukraine would withstand a Russian invasion. “If Russia had a ‘small chance’ to regain ground, you, Richard Moore, wouldn’t be making such a fuss,” she said.
The comments come as Putin continues to escalate the war in Ukraine and Russian troops launched an air attack on the city of Odessa on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Russia’s cancellation of a major deal that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain has further heightened diplomatic tensions, and the aftermath of last month’s armed uprising by the Russian mercenary group Wagner, which ended in the pardon of leader Yevgeny Prigozhin and his departure to Belarus, continues to raise Putin’s questions.
The head of MI6 told CNN that Prigozhin is alive and at large following the group’s 24-hour mutiny against the Kremlin and that Putin is clearly under pressure.
“You won’t have a group of mercenaries advancing along the highway towards Moscow and ending up within 125 kilometers of Moscow if you didn’t quite predict that it was going to happen.”
Moore said Putin “didn’t really resist” Prigozhin, but was instead forced to make a “humiliating deal” to end the insurgency. “He should have realized, I am sure, that something is deeply rotten in the Danish kingdom,” quoting Hamlet, “and he had to break this deal.”
He also warned African states with ties to the Wagner group that if Prigozhin could “betray” Putin, he would betray them in turn.
Wagner mercenaries were present in the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, Mozambique and Syria. Over the years they have acquired a particularly horrendous reputation and have been associated with various human rights violations.
Source: CNN
