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In
his annual update on the threat to Britain, Security Service
(MI5) Director General Ken McCallum also repeated warnings about
Chinese attempts to influence lawmakers and those in public
life, and Beijing's attempts to monitor and harass the Chinese
diaspora.
McCallum said a massive number of Russian officials had been
expelled from across the world including over 600 from Europe of
which more than 400 were judged to be spies.
"This has struck the most significant strategic blow against the
Russian Intelligence Services in recent European history," he
said in a speech at MI5's London headquarters.
"And together with coordinated waves of sanctions, the scale has
taken (Russian President) Putin by surprise."
He also described suggestions from Moscow that Britain was
involved in blowing up Nord Stream gas pipelines as "silly
claims".
He said the expulsion action followed a template set by Britain
in the wake of the nerve agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and
his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, southern England, in 2018 which
prompted a wave of diplomatic expulsions.
McCallum said this year Britain had refused more than 100
Russian diplomatic visa applications on national security
grounds.
On China, the spy chief said the Chinese authorities were using
all the means at their disposal to monitor and intimidate the
Chinese diaspora.
He referenced an incident last month in Manchester, northern
England, when a man who was protesting outside a Chinese
consulate said he was dragged inside the grounds by masked men,
and then kicked and punched.
"To intimidate and harass UK nationals or those who have made
the UK their home cannot be tolerated," McCallum said.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Kate Holton)
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