Russia Poses 'Aggressive, Expansionist, Revisionist" Threat, Warns UK MI6 Chief

Last Updated:December 15, 2025, 16:09 IST

Blaise Metreweli, first female MI6 chief, warns of Russia's aggressive threat, urges tech mastery amid rising tensions and information warfar

Blaise Metreweli, the new head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service. (X)

Amid rising threat from Russia, the new head of Britain’s foreign intelligence service MI6 will warn the nation that Moscow poses an “aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist" threat.

“(Vladimir) Putin should be in no doubt, our support is enduring. The pressure we apply on Ukraine’s behalf will be sustained," Blaise Metreweli will say as per advance extracts of her remarks.

This will be her first speech since becoming the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service’s 116-year history, a role publicly known by the codename “C".

“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," the remarks stated.

According to Reuters, Metreweli will also highlight the need to ramp up the use of technology to tackle threats to UK security, including terrorism and information warfare.

“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.

According to CNN, the new chief will conclude her speech by underlining the power of human agency in tackling threats to UK security.

“The defining challenge of the 21st century is not simply who wields the most powerful technologies, but who guides them with the greatest wisdom. Our security, our prosperity and our humanity depend on it," Metreweli will say.

According to Reuters, 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.

Since Russia’s invasion into Ukraine in 2022, Britain has sanctioned several Russian business figures, political leaders, companies, ships, and entities, including the entire GRU military intelligence agency.

CNN quoted UK police saying that Russian-backed operatives have set fire to Ukrainian-linked factories. In other countries in Europe, drones have been spotted multiple times near airports halting flights, NATO airspace has been violated in Poland and Romania, and underwater cables have been disrupted in the Baltic Sea, sparking fears of sabotage. Russia has not claimed responsibility for any involvement in these incidents.

The MI6 chief’s address comes a week after British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in a speech ighlighted the threat of information warfare.

The government had sanctioned numerous organizations and individuals responsible for “delivering Russia’s information warfare," CNN quoted Cooper saying, adding that two China-based companies for their “vast and indiscriminate cyber activities against the UK and its allies".

Earlier this year, MI6 had launched an online portal aimed at using the dark web to entice potential spies to send secrets, particularly targeting Russia.

News world Russia Poses 'Aggressive, Expansionist, Revisionist" Threat, Warns UK MI6 Chief

Read More