Don’t meddle, spy chief warns Russia

Younger says multiple Daesh plots from abroad thwarted

Alex Younger in his second major speech since being named in 2014 to head MI6 |

The chief of Britain’s foreign intelligence service warned the Kremlin yesterday not to underestimate the West after a brazen nerve agent attack on a retired double agent in England stoked fears about Russian covert activity abroad.

In his second major speech since being named in 2014 to head the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6, Alex Younger said Russia has a stance of “perpetual confrontation” with the West. “The Russian state used a military-grade chemical weapon on UK soil,” Younger told students at the University of St Andrews in Scotland where he once studied economics and computer science before joining the British army.

“Our intention is for the Russian state to conclude that, whatever the benefits it thinks it is accruing from this activity, they are not worth the risk,” he said.

Younger, 55, said that Britain’s spies have thwarted multiple Daesh plots originating overseas. He said the UK had helped France and Germany prevent attacks.