Putin leads criminal thugs and bare-faced liars, says MI5 chief
RUSSIA engaged in “criminal thuggery” and spread “bare-faced lies” with at least 30 different explanations for the Salisbury nerve attack, the head of MI5 has said.
In a rare speech Andrew Parker said the Russian government tried to mislead the world with disinformation online and by publicly attacking its critics.
In a blistering critique of the foreign power, he laid the blame for the nerve agent attack firmly at Vladimir Putin’s door, adding: “Whatever nonsense they conjure up, the case is clear.”
It came ahead of a meeting today between the Russian ambassador and MPS on the Russian all-party parliamentary group. Alexander Vladimirovich Yakovenko reportedly asked to give MPS Russia’s version of events.
Speaking in Berlin, Mr Parker appealed to the EU to work with the UK and cooperate even more closely after Brexit because of “sustained threats and sustained hostile activity”. Mr Putin’s regime has been condemned on the international stage since the attack in March on Sergei Skripal, the former double agent, which was the first use of a nerve agent in Europe since the Second World War.
Mr Parker said the Kremlin flagrantly breached international rules, citing Crimea, elections in France and the US, and the unleashing of cyber attacks, as well as the Salisbury episode.
He added that Russian attempts at covert influence and propaganda had been supercharged in online disinformation, “churned out at massive scale and pace”.
“The aim is to sow doubt by flat denials of the truth, to dilute truth with falsehood.
“Bare-faced lying seems to be the default mode, coupled with ridicule of critics.”
He said Russia was “wellpractised” in manipulation. The Salisbury attack was, he said, “followed by a cynical and distasteful campaign to sow confusion and doubt”.