CIA and MI6 heads: World order is under threat

The world order is “under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War.”

Sir Richard Moore, Head of the British foreign intelligence service MI6, and his counterpart, CIA Director William Burns, stated this in the joint article.

The intelligence chiefs state that London and Washington stand together in “resisting an assertive Russia and Putin’s war of aggression in Ukraine.”

Moore and Burns write that they had predicted in advance that a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine would take place. According to them, they “were able to warn the international community,” in part by declassifying secrets to assist Kyiv.

They noted work being done to “disrupt Russia’s reckless campaign of sabotage” across Europe and pushed for a de-escalation in the conflict in the Middle East.

In addition, intelligence agencies are fighting terror to thwart the resurgent Islamic State.

“There is no question that the international world order – the balanced system that has led to relative peace and stability and delivered rising living standards, opportunities, and prosperity – is under threat in a way we haven’t seen since the Cold War,” the intelligence chiefs discuss in the article.

Burns emphasized that Ukraine’s recent seizure of Russian territory in the Kursk region was a “significant tactical victory.” Still, he saw no evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power was weakening.

There have been calls from Ukraine for the West to supply more weapons and lift restrictions on their use inside Russia. The failure to do so has sometimes been put down to fears over how Moscow might react.

However, the MI6 and the CIA chiefs agreed that this should not deter support for Ukraine.

“None of us should take the risks of escalation lightly,” Burns said.

Militarnyi previously reported with reference to the words of CIA Director William Burns that in the first year of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, there was a genuine risk that Russia would have used tactical nuclear weapons.