Britain’s MI6 Chief Warns of “Space Between Peace and War”

(MENAFN) Britain’s newly appointed MI6 chief has cautioned that the UK and its allies are navigating a perilous “space between peace and war,” using her first public address to outline what she called an “interlocking web of security challenges” primarily driven by the threat from Russia.

Blaise Metreweli, the first woman to head the Secret Intelligence Service, described Moscow as “testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war.”

In her speech on Monday, Metreweli depicted Russia as a growing destabilizing presence, highlighting “the menace of an aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist Russia” and emphasizing that the UK would continue backing Ukraine while maintaining pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

She cited drones appearing near European airports and military bases, cyberattacks targeting vital infrastructure, and disinformation campaigns as examples of Russia’s hybrid methods of warfare.

The recent imposition of sanctions on Russian organizations accused of information warfare reflects a wider strategy, she noted: “The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in this Russian approach to international engagement.”

Having assumed the role from Richard Moore on Oct. 1, Metreweli also indicated a stronger focus on technological expertise within MI6. She urged personnel to combine digital proficiency with traditional espionage skills, stating: “We will become as comfortable with lines of [computer] code as we are with human sources, as fluent in Python as we are in multiple languages.”

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