British intelligence sees Russia as 'biggest threat'

“The UK’s non-discretionary security priority must be our home region of the Euro-Atlantic and here we assess that Russia will remain the greatest threat to the UK mainland until 2030,” Mr Bird said.

Kremlin. Photo: Sputnik

He did not explain why the spies thought Russia would no longer be a threat after 2030. Instead, Mr Bird argued that, from 2030 onwards, “China will be the biggest challenge to the UK’s overseas interests and economic security”. Mr Bird said London should “adapt to the challenges posed by China for the long term”, because it would “compete more directly with the UK in areas of concern to us and will have the ability to disrupt the supply of critical technologies and materials”, such as semiconductors, microchips and rare earth minerals. He described China’s military, intelligence, space and cyber capabilities as posing a “growing threat” to the UK.

The British intelligence chief also stressed that European security is “inseparable from the security of the wider world,” citing issues such as climate change and pandemics. He argued that the UK faces increasingly complex and interconnected threats, driven by geopolitical instability, competition between nations and “rapidly accelerating technological advances” such as artificial intelligence (AI). AI technology will enable “faster decision-making in future conflicts,” Bird argued, revealing that DI is already using machine learning (a branch of AI) to some extent. According to Bird, British military intelligence is hoping to use AI to process raw information quickly enough that human agents are struggling to do so.

​In another development, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on the same day that Ukraine has the right to attack targets on Russian territory for self-defense purposes. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna in the capital Tallinn, Foreign Secretary Cleverly refused to comment on the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) shot down in Moscow. He said: "I do not have detailed information and I will not speculate on the nature of the UAV attack on Moscow." However, according to the British Foreign Secretary, in principle, carrying out attacks outside the territory is part of Kiev's right to self-defense to reduce the risk of Moscow attacking Ukrainian territory. He said that legitimate military targets outside the border are part of Ukraine's right to self-defense. The British Foreign Secretary's statement was made when the US previously announced that it continued to disagree with attacks on Russian territory./.