MI5's Evans says Russian spies 'still a menace'
"Telegraph",
November 7, 2007
Russian spies are still highly active in Britain, diverting resources away from fighting terrorists, MI5's chief said.
Jonathan Evans said his service was stretched dealing with the jihadi threat yet still had to keep an eye on Moscow's operations.
''This year, yet again, there have been high levels of covert activity by foreign intelligence organisations in our country," he added.
''Since the end of the Cold War we have seen no decrease in the numbers of undeclared Russian intelligence officers in the UK – at the Russian Embassy and associated organisations conducting covert activity in this country."
The Russian spy presence in Britain is mainly represented by the GRU military intelligence and the SVR, the new name for the overseas operations of the old KGB.
It is estimated there are 30 or more spies based at the Russian embassy in Kensington, west London.
Controlled by a spymaster known as ''the resident", they spy on the Government and monitor the Russian dissident population. An SVR unit called Line X is involved in technological espionage – trying to acquire scientific secrets.
Six per cent of MI5's budget goes on countering the spies, and Mr Evans said: ''Despite the Cold War ending nearly two decades ago, my Service is still expending resources to defend the UK against unreconstructed attempts by Russia, China and others, to spy on us.
"A number of countries continue to devote considerable time and energy trying to steal our sensitive technology on civilian and military projects and trying to obtain political and economic intelligence at our expense."
''They are resources which I would far rather devote to countering the threat from international terrorism – a threat to the whole international community, not just the UK."
The Russians say they will continue to spy on us while we do the same to them.
Last year, the Kremlin claimed it had caught four British diplomats using a fake rock beside a Moscow road as an electronic version of the age-old "dead-letter drop".
By Philip Johnston
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