British spy chief admits ‘covert action’ in Ukraine

Agents of the British Secret Intelligence Service have been involved in covert operations against Russia and on behalf of Ukraine, SIS head Sir Richard Moore has said.

The SIS was created by the WWII-era Special Operations Executive (SOE) and is also known as MI6. Moore made his admission in a speech at the British embassy in Paris on Friday, at the reception for his French counterpart, Nicolas Lerner of the DGSE.

“We cherish our heritage of covert action which we keep alive today in helping Ukraine resist the Russian invasion,” Moore said at one point.

His admission came just a day after former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson openly declared that Ukraine was a proxy of NATO in a war against Russia.

“Let’s face it: We’re waging a proxy war but not giving our proxies the ability to do the job,” Johnson told the Daily Telegraph, arguing that “the problem has not been escalation; the problem has been the failure to escalate fast enough.”

Russia has long known about the role of British – and American – intelligence operatives in Ukraine. Last month, Moscow’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the Security Council that “Western intelligence agencies, primarily the British MI6, have systematically prepared Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups to organize provocations at nuclear power plants in Russia.”

According to Ukrainian media, the UK has also pushed Kiev into military adventures such as the Krynki bridgehead, where hundreds of elite marines perished trying to create a foothold on the other bank of the Dnieper. British mercenaries have also taken part in the Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk Region.

In February, the New York Times revealed an almost decade-long effort by the CIA to shape Ukraine into a weapon against Russia, implicating several allied intelligence services as well. The current head of Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR), Kirill Budanov, is among the operatives trained by American spies.

The CIA and the MI6 were on the ground in Ukraine as early as 2014, former Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) employee Vasily Prozorov testified in March 2019. Speaking in Moscow, Prozorov named some of the British agents who visited the frontline in the Donbass as well as the special forces training grounds in Berdichev.

In his speech in Paris, MI6’s Moore insisted that France and Britain were “united and unflinching in our determination to support Ukraine, for as long as it takes,” arguing that NATO can prevail because it has “many times Russia’s GDP and defense budget.”

“We should never doubt that our alliance has strength in numbers, both economic and military, and our unity of purpose makes that count,” the British spymaster claimed, adding that “Our democracy is our strength.”