MI6 Head: Russia Employs "Grey Zone" Tactics Below Threshold of War

(MENAFN) Britain's intelligence apparatus confronts an unprecedented threat landscape where traditional warfare boundaries have dissolved, the nation's newly appointed Secret Intelligence Service director declared Monday.

Blaise Metreweli, making history as the first woman to command MI6, characterized the current global environment as a perilous "space between peace and war" during her inaugural public address. She outlined what she described as an "interlocking web of security challenges" with Russian aggression at the center.

Moscow is "testing us in the grey zone with tactics that are just below the threshold of war," Metreweli stated, establishing the strategic framework for her tenure.

The spy chief painted Russia as an escalating destabilizing actor, warning of "the menace of an aggressive, expansionist, and revisionist Russia" while reaffirming Britain's commitment to supporting Ukraine and sustaining pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Metreweli catalogued Russia's hybrid warfare arsenal: unmanned aircraft violating airspace over European airports and military installations, digital assaults targeting essential infrastructure, and coordinated disinformation operations designed to undermine Western societies.

Recent sanctions imposed on Russian organizations engaged in information warfare exemplify Moscow's broader doctrine, she explained: "The export of chaos is a feature, not a bug, in this Russian approach to international engagement."

Metreweli, who succeeded Richard Moore on Oct. 1, unveiled plans to fundamentally transform MI6's operational capabilities through technological integration.

Demanding personnel develop cutting-edge digital competencies alongside traditional tradecraft, she declared: "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."

MENAFN16122025000045017169ID1110485798