Richard Moore, head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, has said the Wagner group's attempted mutiny in June showed Russian President Vladimir Putin was under pressure, adding that he was optimistic about Ukraine's counter-offensive.
"Clearly he is under pressure," Moore said at the British embassy in Prague on Wednesday. In his second speech since he became head of the Secret Intelligence Service in 2020, he declared that there seemed little prospect of Russia regaining momentum in Ukraine.
The British spy chief also called on Russians distraught by the war in Ukraine to "join forces" with their intelligence service and end the bloodshed.
Delivering his speech at the British embassy in Prague, Moore compared the current situation in Ukraine to the Prague Spring of 1968, when the Soviet Union stifled liberalizing reforms. "While witnessing the corruption, infighting and callous incompetence of their leaders - the human factor at its worst - many Russians face the same dilemmas as their predecessors did in 1968," Moore said.
"I invite you to do what others have done these past 18 months and join hands with ours. Our door is always open... Your secrets will be safe with us and together we will work to end the bloodshed."
He called Iran's decision to supply Moscow with suicide drones for the Ukraine conflict "inconceivable", saying it had sparked internal squabbles at the highest level of the Tehran regime.
Moore warned that China and Russia are competing to master technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.
Returning to the subject, he stated that AI would complement the work of intelligence agencies, but not replace humans, who could discover secrets beyond the reach of technology. "Unique characteristics of human agents in the right places will become even more important," she said.
