Russia Rises in the Rankings

Unfortunately, not the right rankings. Today tucked away at the bottom of our Russia News Blast was a note that UK security services have declared the Russian Federation to be the #3 threat to the country’s public security, trailing only behind al-Qaeda terrorism and nuclear proliferation from Iran. A little more info:

“The services are understood to fear that Russia’s three main intelligence agencies have flooded the country with agents, The Times understands. There is reported to be deep irritation within the services that vital resources are having to be diverted to deal with industrial and military espionage by the Russians.“

It’s hard to know whether this is just antagonistic baiting ahead of the G8 meeting in Japan, expressing resentment over the BP issue, but this is not the first time we’ve heard this complaint of increased espionage from Russia in the United Kingdom.