Vladimir Putin has dismissed as “utter rubbish” claims by the UK’s MI5 intelligence chief that Russia is aiming to cause chaos across Britain and Europe.
Speaking on the closing day of the annual summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, the Russian president responded to MI5 chief Ken McCallum’s claims that Russian military intelligence is “on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets”.
Mr McCallum said his service had “seen arson, sabotage and more”.
Mr Putin, who has been hosting the three-day summit in the Russian city of Kazan, responded saying the situation “on the streets of European cities” was caused by the actions of European authorities.
This year’s BRICS summit was touted by the Kremlin as “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia.
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The alliance that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.
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Despite US-led efforts by Western countries to isolate Russia in the aftermath of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine back in February 2022, 36 countries attended the summit.
Mr Putin told the summit Russia was ready to consider options to end the conflict.
“We are prepared to consider any options for peace agreements based on the realities on the ground. And are not ready for anything else,” he said.
He also addressed US claims that North Korea had sent troops to Russia, which he didn’t deny.
But he said it was up to Moscow how to operate within the framework of an article of Russia’s partnership deal with North Korea, which deals with mutual defence.
The US has said that it had seen evidence that North Korea has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for possible deployment in Ukraine, viewed by the West as a significant escalation.
Asked by a reporter about satellite imagery showing North Korean troop movements, Mr Putin said: “Images are a serious thing. If there are images, then they reflect something.”
