After years of prodding the UK, committing murder on our streets with poisoning attacks, committing cyber crime against us, British crucial support for Ukraine, in a sense, we are at war with Russia
Britain may already be at war with Russia because of the escalating intensity of plots against the UK committed by Kremlin and intelligence chiefs, experts have warned. Poison murders on UK streets, escalating espionage against the UK, overt fire bombings, costly and dangerous cyber-hacking, spy flights and submarine incursions have led to the alert.
For years, under orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin’s intelligence spooks have prodded at the UK with deadly “grey zone” attacks. But former MI5 chief Eliza Manningham-Buller backed claims by UK Russia expert and former White House adviser Fiona Hill that Moscow is at war with the west. Mannigham Buller said: “I think she may be right in saying we’re already at war with Russia. It’s a different sort of war, but the hostility, the cyber-attacks, the physical attacks, the intelligence work is extensive.”
Poland, Estonia and other Baltic states have all reported incursions by Russia aircraft and these are becoming increasingly reckless – whilst sparking calls for threatening Kremlin craft to be shot down. Acts of aggression that fall just beneath the threshold for war have pushed the UK and NATO allies to the limits of their patience, awakening the alliance’s military and sparking a massive weapon race to prepare for Russian attacks.
Here is why: Earlier this year five men were convicted for their involvement in a Russian-plotted arson attack on a London warehouse laden with Ukraine supplies, causing £1 million of damage. UK Counter-Terrorism command police found ringleader Dylan Earl, 21, contacted Russian mercenary group Wagner Group and recruited a team to set fire to the Leyton warehouse – whilst surveilling businesses in Mayfair for more attacks. Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, said: “This case is a clear example of an organisation linked to the Russian state using ‘proxies’ – in this case British men – to carry out very serious criminal activity in this country on their behalf. The ringleaders – Earl and Reeves – willingly acted as hostile agents on behalf of the Russian state.
Britain has led the way in the west’s multi-billion pound support for Ukraine’s defence against Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, training its troops, supplying arms and taking in refugees from the fighting. The UK has for decades supported proxy wars against Russia, behind the scenes helping Afghan rebels defend against Russia in the 1980’s up until backing Syrian enemies of the Kremlin’s former ally, toppled ex-Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad.
But such overt support for our Ukraine allies has put us firmly in the sights of the Kremlin as leading the proxy defence against its invasion army. The Kremlin is desperate to stop western support for Ukraine’s defence of its territory and thyat has put the UK, as the main partner, firmly in its sights.
Russian special forces have murdered on British streets. The 2018 Salisbury poisoning of former KGB man Sergei Skripal and his daughter Julia led to them and a police officer fighting for their lives and the death of local woman Dawn Sturgess. Two brazen Russian spooks Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, were filmed by CCTV as they casually walked away from the poisoning before heading back to Russia.
They were Ruslan Boshirov , real name Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga and Alexander Petrov, a GRU operative whose real name is Alexander Mishkin. A third GRU officer present in the UK at the time was identified as Denis Sergeev and he holds the rank of GRU Major General. It is believed the Kremlin felt its London poisoning murder of Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 meant it could literally get away with murder. And apart from these two there may have been a dozen more killings of anti-Kremlin dissidents who have died mysteriously in the UK. All three have been charged with conspiracy to murder and warrants for their arrests were issued.
Russian cyber plotters are suspected of being behind an attack on Heathrow and other major European airports, leaving thousands of travellers and holidaymakers stranded on the final weekend of summer. The cost the country many millions in delays and impact on commerce and was aimed at undermining UK security.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre is working around the clock to combat attacks such as this of which over the years there have been many. Attacks such as these may not be of a military nature but they are corrosive to national security, they make Brits feel unsafe and less able to relax and crucially they represent a huge dent to the economy.
Frequent Russian long-range bomber/ spy jets have in recent years been intercepted by RAF Typhoons as they head towards UK airspace, testing UK response times and making dangerous attempted incursions. All of the flights are shooed away from the UK but the operations are costly and put RAF teams on alert.
As well as testing UK response times the Russian incursions are also aimed at psychologically putting the British on alert, making it believe it is under a constant threat from Russia. Russian submarines have also made incursions into UK maritime limits and are believed to be trying to map underwater communications cables linking the UK and Europe to the US. If these were damaged it would have a corrosive effect on the economy, interfering with the banking system and commercial communications.