MI6 to ramp up efforts to recruit spies inside Russia with daring new tactic

MI6 is ramping up efforts to recruit spies in Russia by creating secure communication channels for potential moles.

Intelligence officers will, for the first time, create a portal on the dark web used by criminals and dissidents trying to hide their identities.

And security chiefs hope this will allow the UK to recruit more spies to hand over sensitive information linked to Russian, Chinese, Iranian or terrorist activity.

It is far harder for intelligence agencies and police forces to detect and intercept messages and information shared on the dark web, illustrating why it is so popular for organised crime networks.

It marks another significant shift in the World of espionage, with fears intensifying that Russian intelligence agencies are relying on a "gig economy"-style recruitment method of paying criminals for sabotage, kidnapping and arson conspiracies.

Sir Richard Moore, the outgoing head of MI6 - "C" - will announce the creation of Silent Courier in his final speech in Istanbul, Turkey.

He will say: "Today we're asking those with sensitive information on global instability, international terrorism or hostile state intelligence activity to contact MI6 securely online.

"Our virtual door is open to you."

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "National security is the first duty of any government and the bedrock of the Prime Minister's Plan for Change.

"As the world changes, and the threats we're facing multiply, we must ensure the UK is always one step ahead of our adversaries.

"Our world class intelligence agencies are at the coalface of this challenge, working behind the scenes to keep British people safe.

"Now we're bolstering their efforts with cutting-edge tech so MI6 can recruit new spies for the UK - in Russia and around the world."

The announcement will be made by the outgoing Chief of MI6, Sir Richard Moore, in Istanbul where he will say that the platform will make it easier for MI6 to recruit agents online.

As MI6 establishes its official presence on the dark web to reach new recruits and tackle hostile actors seeking to undermine UK security, Sir Richard will say that the UK's intelligence services are "critical to calibrating risk and informing decisions" in navigating threats from hostile actors - making platforms like these even more important in keeping our country safe.

Moscow is believed to have expanded its recruitment of agents-saboteurs online to "go beyond the usual suspects", academics believe.

It is using a "gig-economy" style of recruiting people, with the option to "surge" to meet "the rapidly increasing demand for sabotage operations".

And the highly respected International Institute for Strategic Studies said Moscow's military intelligence agency, the GRU, planted electric massage machines laced with a "magnesium-based flammable substance" on aircrafts.

These parcels, which exploded in warehouses in Birmingham, Leipzig in Germany and near Warsaw in Poland, are believed to be "test runs for potential future attacks against cargo aircraft", researchers said.

They warned that an apparent "lull" in sabotage plots in the first half of this year - following a sharp increase in 2024 - could be down to Vladimir Putin's spies "regrouping their networks" and "recalibrating" their tactics.

And the GRU - which is using criminal gangs to carry out its sabotage, arson and vandalism conspiracies - is targeting students and Russians living in Europe to rebuild its own networks of undetected intelligence officers.

It comes after Bulgarian nationals Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tihomir Ivanchev, 39 , were all convicted of being part of a Kremlin cell snooping on an "almost industrial scale".

Ringleaders Orlin Roussev, 46, from Great Yarmouth, and Biser Dzhambazov, 43, from London, had already admitted being part of a conspiracy to spy.

The mastermind for their activities was former Wirecard chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, who is in exile in Moscow.

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, warned it is a "clear example" of Moscow "contracting" out its intelligence gathering to proxies and criminals, adding: "We will see more of that".

He said: "It is becoming an increasingly bigger part of all of CT's work.

"Years ago, this would have been Russian agents on soil, directly working for a Russian intelligence agency.

"Instead what you have got is these activities being contracted out to individuals like this group.

"That says something about the hostile environment that we have created and the innovation behind now having to use criminals, or proxies."

He added of the threat Russian intelligence services pose: "This is well organised, well-structured and poses a significant threat."

The spies were ordered to carry out surveillance of an American military base in Germany, which they believed was being used for training Ukrainian troops on Patriot missiles following Russia's invasion.

They planned to use international mobile subscriber identity or "IMSI" catchers to identify soldiers' mobile phones on the airbase so their movements could be tracked when they later served in Ukraine, the court was told.

They also plotted to kidnap journalists and planned fake attacks against Kazakhstan's embassy in London so Putin's secret services could come to the rescue.