SECURITY: UK's MI6 Chief Talks On War In Ukraine As Def Min Visits North Korea
Delivering a speech at the British Embassy in Paris, Chief of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (SIS, also known as MI6) Richard Moore speaks on the war in Ukraine and European security vis-a-vis Russia. Says that "If Putin reduces Ukraine to a vassal state he will not stop there...The cost of not [supporting Ukraine] would be infinitely higher. If Putin succeeds China would weigh the implications, North Korea would be emboldened and Iran would become still more dangerous."
- Moore says that MI6 "...have uncovered a staggeringly reckless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe." Says that Putin "resorting to nuclear sabre-rattling [is] to sow fear about support for Ukraine and challenge Western resolve". Calls this "dangerous and beyond irresponsible". Moore: "Putin has put Russia in hock to Tehran, Beijing, and Pyongyang".
Moore's speech comes as Defence Minister Andrei Belousov visits North Korea for talks with political and military officials including Defence Minister No Kwang Chol. The unannounced visit comes amid increasingly close military links between Pyongyang and Moscow with an estimated 10k North Korean troops currently deployed in the Kursk oblast of Russia that is subject to a Ukrainian military incursion.
- The increasingly close relations between North Korea and Russia have seen Ukraine seek to develop closer links with South Korea, exemplified in Defence Minister Rustem Umerov's meeting with President Yoon Suk-yeol earlier this week. Seoul has raised concerns about an increase in military tech from Russia to North Korea allowing the Kim regime to bolster its nuclear capabilities.