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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ruth Michaelson in Istanbul

Outgoing MI6 chief says Putin has ‘bitten off more than he can chew’ in Ukraine

Richard Moore speaks at the British consulate general in Istanbul: he stands at a lectern and wears a dark suit. He has short grey hair and black-framed half-moon spectacles.
‘Come spy with us,’ said Richard Moore in his call to recruit more operatives to MI6. Photograph: Dilara Irem Sancar/Anadolu/Getty Images

The outgoing head of MI6 has issued a damning indictment of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying that Vladimir Putin has “bitten off more than he can chew”.

Richard Moore, known within MI6 as C, used his farewell speech in Istanbul to say that while Russia was unlikely to win on the battlefield, his agency was seeking to recruit spies inside Russia and worldwide in order to fight back.

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