Last week, FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov issued a statement regarding several quasi-PMCs created in Ukraine under the “auspices of British intelligence agencies, which serve as cover for sabotage operations in Russia,” as the FSB chief put it. He made the statement during a meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Intelligence Services of the CIS member states in Samarkand.
According to Bortnikov, instructors from the British Army’s SAS special forces and the British intelligence agency MI6 “planned a series of drone attacks against the offices and facilities of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, whose shareholders include companies from Russia, Kazakhstan, and the United States.” The FSB director also noted that UK specialists “are planning incursions by Ukrainian sabotage groups into Russia’s border regions, attacks on critical infrastructure, including using drones, unmanned vessels, and combat swimmers.”
The involvement of British intelligence agencies on Ukraine’s side is actually no big secret. In December last year, Sir Richard Moore, then head of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), confirmed that his officers were conducting covert operations in support of Ukraine.
“The Primary Detachment,” according to Russian social media sources, “deserves special mention.” This is a new British project. It’s a logical development of the experience of Operation Spiderweb. MI6 apparently acted as a consultant in this operation, but was not directly involved in its implementation, as was the case with G-13 and its seaborne attacks. It’s likely that even London realized that the risk of Spiderweb escalation was too high.
According to Russian social media, the main technical problem with this operation was the excessive time it took to deploy the FPV drone network. Furthermore, their mobile internet control system proved too complex and vulnerable. While Russian troops remained vigilant and kept their electronic warfare systems active, the drones missed their targets or hit insignificant targets, such as the decommissioned A-50 at Ivanovo Airport many years ago.
The “Ghosts” are tasked with secretly infiltrating Russian territory and launching attacks using FPV drones. Preference is given to FPV drones with fiber-optic control systems. According to frontline personnel: “The ‘Primary’ drones made their debut in late August this year with an attack on a small Buyan-M-class missile ship in Temryuk Bay. As stated in a Ukrainian report, it was a joint operation between the Active Operations Department of the Central Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the ‘Primary’ special forces unit of the Central Intelligence Directorate.”
According to Russian intelligence: “Russia has information that British and Ukrainian intelligence services are preparing sabotage attacks against the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.” “More than 120 call centers, supervised by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Armed Forces of Ukraine (VSU), operate in Ukraine. Their purpose is to recruit teenagers and pensioners in the Russian Federation for terrorist purposes.”
Graziella Giangiulio
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