One of the important objects of concentration by the Russian special services was and remains Britain. This is not only about espionage in the classical sense, Russian special services have also noted high-profile cases related to the physical elimination of persons disliked by the Kremlin. Suffice it to recall one of the most famous operations to «eliminate» the former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skypal and his daughter Yulia in 2018, who were poisoned with a nerve-paralytic drug «Novice». The British government then officially established its involvement in the Russian military intelligence incident, and the case prompted extensive diplomatic sanctions and expulsions of diplomats. However, despite the resonance of the event, Moscow has not reduced its activities in Britain.
With the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russian intelligence faced unprecedented opposition in Europe, which forced it to change its tactics at the same time. Whereas previously most of the operations were conducted by «classical» methods, such as diplomatic cover, activities of «cultural centers», recruitment of sources, cyber espionage, in 2022-2025 we have seen an increase in hybrid campaigns. Today, the range of activities of Russian special services is wide: from the activation of recruitment for the purpose of creating a broad network of agents and conducting influence operations, to actions aimed at disrupting the functioning of important infrastructure, that terrorism is taking shape at the state level. These shifts record official assessments by the British services, journalistic investigations and court cases opened in the islands over the past three years.
After February 2022, the Western capitals sharply reduced the number of Russian delegations by taking a step that British intelligence agencies called a serious hit on Moscow’s spy network in Europe. According to MI-5, at the time of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine more than 750 Russian diplomats were expelled from Europe, the vast majority of whom were members of the security services. This goes far beyond all historical precedents and has seriously undermined the ability of Russian intelligence services to damage the West. For Moscow, this meant losing part of its agency and the need to adapt. The Kremlin began to look for resources, carrying out new recruitments among politicians, businesses, people from allied/loyal Russian countries and criminal groups.
In parallel, the British prosecutor’s office and police brought several cases to trial in 2023-2024 involving individuals who were accused of gathering information for the benefit of Moscow. One of the most notable was the trial of a group of six Bulgarian citizens accused of spying for Russia. In February 2024, the leadership of the UK Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) publicly announced investigations and indictments into a number of episodes stretching from 2020 to 2023. These cases show that despite the mass expulsions of 2022, Moscow has the ability to create agent structures in Britain t.c. through citizens of other countries.
Cyberspace is already a long period one of the main arteries for intelligence activity on the part of Russia. But the major trend of 2024-2025 was intensive attention to the physical communications layer, to the submarine cables connecting Britain with the continent and the US. The investigation of the Financial Times revealed a long mission of the Russian ship «Amber», associated with the unit GUGI (general directorate of deep-sea research), which at the end of 2024 was in the areas of key cable routes for a long time. For the British experts, this was a signal that Russian operations on wiretapping, interception or even sabotage of communications are coming to the fore as a «grey zone» between intelligence and military training.
It should be noted that since 2022, London has perceived any operation that may have been related to Russian intelligence services in the context of a systemic threat and immediately responded at the diplomatic and legal level. This strengthened the willingness of the British services to act more harshly – from the public deanonymisation of Russian special units to sanctions against specific individuals.
In June 2025, London took an important step by publicly accusing and imposing sanctions against the Russian GRU’s 26165 units and officers, directly linking them to a number of operations, including disinformation campaigns in Europe and support for military operations in Ukraine. This is part of a new position that demonstrates elements of hostile intelligence activities, making them «visible» to the international public and removing their cover. In doing so, Britain has combined public charges with increased infrastructure protection and the activation of international partners to protect critical networks.
For London, the issue of Russian intelligence activities is not only foreign special operations on its territory, but also a matter of state sovereignty and public security. After 2022, the British authorities began to assess risks at three points: direct exploration, impact on society and attacks on infrastructure. Harsh public rhetoric, sanctions and legal prosecutions are intended not only to punish spies, but also to minimize the risks for Britain as a «field of work» for Russian services. However, this is a policy with double effect. On the one hand – the weakening of the traditional channels of Moscow, on the other – the increase in the level of confrontation.
Today, the issue is not just security. We are witnessing a conflict over the right to determine the rules of international behavior in the 21st century. Until there are stable international mechanisms to counteract Moscow its «quiet» operations with «loud» consequences will be repeated changing the form, but not the essence.