Vladimir Putin has insisted that claims by the head of MI5 that Russia wants to cause “mayhem” on Britain’s streets are “utter rubbish”.
Ken McCallum made the charge in a speech in London earlier this month.
Assessing the threats facing the UK, he said: “While the Russian military grinds away on the battlefield, at horrendous human cost, Putin’s henchmen are seeking to strike elsewhere in the misguided hope of weakening Western resolve.”
The spy boss claimed Russia’s military intelligence agency the GRU, who are widely blamed for the 2018 Salisbury attacks, has been actively recruiting criminals as proxies.
“We’ve seen arson, sabotage and more. Dangerous actions conducted with increasing recklessness.”
Putin was asked about McCallum’s by BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg at a press conference at the BRICS summit in Russia on Thursday.
The Russian president replied: “Thank you for reminding me about this part [of the question]. Well, this is utter rubbish.”
Putin also dismissed claims that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing war, jarred with the BRICS summit’s support for global “justice and security”.
Instead, he accused Nato of “ignoring” Russia’s calls not to expand eastwards.
He said: “Is it fair to lie to our face, promising that there will be no such expansion and violating their obligations and their promises to do that?”
Putin added: “It violates our security, this Nato expansion. No - they still did it. Is that fair? There is no justice here, and we want to change this situation. And we’ll achieve it.”