Russia is waging a “campaign” of propaganda and unconventional warfare against Britain, government officials have acknowledged for the first time.
Moscow is behind a concerted drive to undermine the UK through espionage, misinformation, cyberattacks and fake news, senior Whitehall figures believe.
Theresa May will chair a National Security Council session within weeks to examine Russian actions towards Britain and its allies and discuss possible responses.
It is understood that intelligence officers and senior civil servants from across government expressed concern about the growing scale of the Russian threat during a high-level meeting at the Cabinet Office two months ago.
“There was an agreement on the need to do more across Whitehall to understand and assess and formulate options on how to respond to Russian activities,” a source with knowledge of the meeting said. The operations against Britain are part of a broader drive by Moscow to destabilise the West. US intelligence officials disclosed this week that President Putin was personally involved in a Russian-led hacking campaign during the American election.
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Pressure on the West to respond has escalated tensions. President Obama promised retaliation this week against Moscow, saying: “We need to take action and we will at a time and place of our own choosing.” Speaking yesterday, he said to Russia: “Don’t do this stuff to us, because we can do this to you.”
Concerns have been raised that British institutions and companies have been penetrated by Russian agents, including UK citizens, and last night it emerged that several academics at Cambridge University have stepped down from an intelligence forum over fears of Kremlin influence.
The head of the armed forces has taken the unusual step of calling for increased efforts to catch moles. “We . . . need to pay more attention to counterespionage and counterintelligence to protect our hard-won research, pro- tect our industry and protect our competitive advantage,” Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach said this week.
Although he did not specify the nationality of the agents, the number of Russian spies and “agents of influence” — such as useful MPs wooed by the Russians — in Britain is thought to be higher than during the Cold War.
Military intelligence officials are working more closely with MI5 on Russian issues, including the need to flush out spies. Examples of the new Russian “hybrid” warfare include:
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• State-run news outlets, including RT and Sputnik, spreading propaganda to influence British audiences, particularly over key issues such as Brexit and the Scottish independence referendum. The activities of Russian propaganda outfits in Britain were exposed by a Times investigation in July;
• Fears that attempts will be made to discredit hundreds of British troops who will deploy to Estonia next year by orchestrating bogus traffic accidents and pub brawls to smear them;
• Suspected cyberattacks against British companies and infrastructure, though Britain has a policy not to confirm which state or entity conducted the attack;
• The deployment of Mr Putin’s only aircraft carrier and a fleet of escort ships directly through the English Channel last month en route to join the bombing campaign in Syria.
The various Russian hostile activities have been designated as a “campaign” in Whitehall to bring together departments’ efforts to combat the tactics.
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“They have just woken up to Russia,” a Russia expert and former adviser to the government said. “They are embarrassed to admit it. They don’t really know what to do because the logic is we should increase our defence spending and we should create a cross-governmental strategy for defending ourselves against this.”
The Russian threat will be discussed by Mrs May and senior intelligence, military and other officials at one of the first meetings of the National Security Council next year. The prime minister is facing calls from security experts to set up a “war cabinet” to respond to Russian hybrid warfare — or at least develop a cross-government strategy that draws together the weaponry that is being used against the West.
In the US, Mr Obama all but affirmed yesterday that Mr Putin had interfered directly to tilt the presidential election in Donald Trump’s favour. Asked if he could unequivocally say that Mr Putin had been involved in email hacks, Mr Obama replied: “Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin.”
It also emerged that Russia had breached emails of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the defence department advisory body. No intelligence was stolen.
Last year Mr Putin created a defence centre run by military officers, bringing together hybrid weapons of media, economics, politics and dirty tricks, to ensure that all activity was carried out in pursuit of agreed goals, such as the collapse of the European Union and Nato.