The head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service, the foreign spy service known as MI6, has warned that Russia "remains an aggressive and expansionist threat", vowing sustained support for Ukraine and calling for greater use of technology to protect UK security.
In her first public speech since taking office in October, MI6 Chief Blaise Metreweli is expected to accuse Moscow of exporting instability as part of its global strategy.
Metreweli will also say President Vladimir Putin should be in “no doubt” about Britain’s continued backing of Ukraine, according to advance extracts of her remarks.
"(Vladimir) Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring.The pressure we apply on Ukraine's behalf will be sustained," Metreweli will say on Monday.
She will also say that pressure on Russia will continue until Putin is forced to change his approach, describing chaos as a deliberate feature of Russian foreign policy.
"The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in the Russian approach to international engagement, and we should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus."
Metreweli will also highlight the need to ramp up the use of technology to tackle threats to UK security, including terrorism and information warfare. She is expected to say intelligence officers must be as skilled in coding as they are in traditional espionage, calling for technology to be embedded across all areas of intelligence work.
"Mastery of technology must infuse everything we do. Not just in our labs, but in the field, in our tradecraft, and even more importantly, in the mindset of every officer. We must be as comfortable with lines of code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple languages," she will say.
She is the first woman to lead MI6 service in its 116-year history after replacing Sir Richard Moore.
Over the weekend and last week, Germany has been hosting talks involving the U.S. and Ukrainian delegations on a potential ceasefire deal, ahead of a summit in Berlin later on Monday (15 December) with European leaders.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK has imposed sanctions on Russian business figures, political leaders, companies and ships, including the GRU military intelligence agency.
Richard Knighton, head of Britain's armed forces, will also call in a separate speech on Monday for a "whole society" approach to defence in the face of growing uncertainty and threats, and highlight an increased probability of Russia invading a NATO country.
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Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
A powerful explosion has been reported at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, raising fresh concerns over aviation security in Saudi Arabia as tensions across the region continue to escalate.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (9 October) escalating tensions with European allies and potentially targeting companies that provide services to the tribunal. The move came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Indian police detained more than 2,000 protesters in Delhi on Saturday as authorities blocked a planned demonstration calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over disputed changes to voter lists.
At least 12 people, including three children, have been killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to ease sanctions on Russian diesel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports, questioning why Moscow was granted an economic benefit without an apparent concession towards ending the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed surprise after Donald Trump mediated the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement in 2025, the U.S. President said at a rally in New York state on Friday.
The United Nations has condemned a sharp rise in attacks on civilians in Ukraine, reporting that more than 100 people were killed and at least 429 injured in a single week as Russian strikes hit residential areas, passenger buses and critical infrastructure.
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