ISIS ‘still a threat to Europe’ with ‘devastating and complex terror plots’, MI5 chief Andrew Parker warns
Britain's top spook slammed the Kremlin in speech for 'flagrant breaches of international rules' while labelling the brazen attack on Sergei Skripal as 'deliberate and targeted malign activity'
ISIS is still a threat to Europe - planning more "devastating" and "complex" attacks across the continent, Britain's top spook has warned.
While security services have thwarted 12 terror attacks in the UK since the Westminster Bridge atrocity last year, MI5 Director General Andrew Parker says the threat is not over yet.
It remains present despite ISIS losing territory in the Middle East, the MI5 boss warned in a speech at the meeting of European security chiefs in Berlin this morning.
It comes as Paris was left horrified over the weekend when Khamzat Asimov went on a bloody stabbing rampage across the city, killing one and injuring four others.
MI5 Director General Parker also slammed the Kremlin for “flagrant breaches of international rules” in his first public speech since the March outrage - warning Russia that it faces becoming a pariah over the Salisbury poison plot.
Mr Parker, 56, told European spy chiefs in Berlin the brazen attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter was a “deliberate and targeted malign activity”.
And he will said Russia is pursuing “aggressive and pernicious actions by its military and intelligence services” and responsible for a "fog of lies and half-truths".
The address, titled Hybrid Threats, is the first public speech given by a serving MI5 boss outside the UK.
It is also the strongest salvo fired by Mr Parker at the Russian threat in recent years, including a blast at the relentless spin campaign unleashed by Vladimir Putin’s cronies.
He said he did not want to escalate tensions with Moscow but that a series of recent aggressive and pernicious actions directed by the Kremlin were unacceptable.
THWARTED: Twelve terror attacks foiled in a year since Westminster Bridge atrocity
TWELVE devastating terror attacks have been foiled in the year after the Westminster Bridge atrocity.
Security services managed to thwart the plots that were expected to target tourist attractions, pop concerts and government buildings.
Disrupted plots, some at the hands of ISIS, were also planned to use knives and cars to target crowds.
MI5 director general Andrew Parker is also expected to reveal the extent of the work done by security services, with spies in Berlin stopping 25 attacks on UK soil since the murder of Lee Rigby in 2013.
He is expected to say that he is "confident about our ability to tackle these threats, because of the strength and resilience of our democratic systems, the resilience of our societies and the values we share with our European partners."
Mr Parker, who said he once studied Russian, accused Moscow of attempting to subvert Western democracies by sowing disinformation and spreading lies.
He said: "Instead of becoming a respected great nation it risks becoming a more isolated pariah.
"The Russian state's now well-practised doctrine of blending media manipulation, social media disinformation and distortion along with new and old forms of espionage, and high-levels of cyber attacks, military force and criminal thuggery is what is meant these days by the term hybrid threats."
He also praised the 28 European countries who booted out Russian diplomats after Salisbury.
Despite the ever-growing complexity of ISIS plots, Mr Parker revealed 12 UK terror plots have been foiled since the 2017 Westminster attack, and 25 since 2013.
And he warned ISIS remains a huge threat despite being almost driven out of Iraq and Syria.
But he revealed intelligence sharing between countries is helping combat extremists.
Adding that despite Brexit a strong security partnership between Britain and Europe is vital and “in today’s uncertain world we need that shared strength more than ever”.
Mr Parker stated that European intelligence co-operation today is “simply unrecognisable to what it looked like five years ago” and that there is real-time intelligence-sharing including “thousands of exchanges on advanced secure networks every week”.
Former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, 66, and his daughter Yulia, 33, were poisoned with the nerve agent after it was smeared on the front door of their Wiltshire home.
The pair were rushed to Salisbury District Hospital in critical condition after being found slumped on a bench in a park.
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A huge cordon was put in place around Salisbury as the military were called in over contamination fears.
Russia has repeatedly denied its involvement in Salisbury and Moscow has flooded pr-Russian news and social media with a host of conspiracy theories.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has said it was "overwhelmingly likely" that Putin himself had directed the use of nerve agent.
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