 |
| News |
| MI6 urged to help with Royal Navy threat |
| MI6 are being urged to increase its high-level spying operations against Russia, in a bid to protect Britain's nuclear deterrent from huge advances in Russian anti-submarine technology. After numerous intelligence gathering successes, the Russian navy has now gained a substantial lead on the Royal Navy and its Nato allies in the field of submarine detection, undermining the effectiveness of Britain's Trident nuclear fleet. Previous attempts by MI6 have had limited success, in 1996 MI6 stole anti-submarine warfare (ASW) secrets from a French naval base. A French civilian engineer was paid to betray a breakthrough in ASW based on a remote sensing device thought to be capable of tracking submarines from a satellite. One recent operation which targeted a senior Russian naval commander, known to be an expert in ASW, failed. His attempted seduction by a Russian-speaking female agent working under diplomatic cover took place in an undisclosed European capital. The operation lasted for several weeks, with questions being fed to the agent by MI6 on a daily basis to ask the Russian naval commander. The mission was called off only after the Russian introduced the agent to his wife. |