Russia, Iran, and China are increasingly involved in life-threatening activities on British soil—including attacks and kidnappings—often carried out by criminal networks or, in some cases, by children, according to two senior UK counterterrorism officials.
British authorities have repeatedly raised alarms in recent years about hostile actions from these states, ranging from espionage and attempts to destabilise the country to acts of sabotage and targeted assassinations. Moscow, Tehran, and Beijing have denied these allegations, dismissing them as politically motivated.
On Tuesday, UK officials reported a fivefold surge in hostile state activity since the 2017 Novichok poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, which the UK has blamed on Russian intelligence operatives.
Dominic Murphy, head of London’s Counter Terrorism Command, warned that the scale and complexity of state-backed operations by Russia, Iran, and China have grown beyond expectations.
“We are increasingly seeing these three states engaging in threat-to-life operations within the UK,” Murphy told reporters.
According to Vicki Evans, the Senior National Coordinator for UK Counter Terrorism Policing, these operations are often outsourced to proxies—typically low-level criminals paid small sums of money. Some individuals involved include vulnerable or marginalised people, including teenagers who have been arrested or are under investigation.
Evans expressed concern about young people being manipulated online. “We worry that some of them may be coaxed or encouraged into actions they don’t fully understand, rather than being ideologically driven,” she said.
Earlier this month, three men were convicted for setting fire to Ukraine-linked businesses in London in an attack that police said was ordered by Russia’s Wagner Group. The group's leader had previously admitted to plotting the kidnapping of a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a separate warning, MI5 revealed last year that since January 2022, Iran has been linked to at least 20 plots targeting British citizens or residents seen as hostile by Tehran.
Murphy added that Iran continues to try to incite violence in the UK, also relying on criminal networks to carry out its plans.
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