Sir Richard Moore, head of the Secret Intelligence Service – MI6 – follows the tradition of only giving one public address a year, so it is inevitably scrutinised carefully for signs and portents. His speech at the UK embassy in Prague, inviting Russians to spy for Britain, required no particular reading between the lines.
After a suitable preamble noting Britain’s strong relationship with the Czech Republic, he pivoted from Moscow’s brutal suppression of the liberal Prague Spring in 1968 to Soviets, the bravest of whom, seeing ‘the moral travesty of what was being done…acted on their convictions by throwing in their lot with us, as partners for freedom.’
This was indeed a moment which shattered any remaining faith in the system for many Soviets, including Oleg Gordievsky, one of MI6’s most important double agents within the KGB. However, Sir Richard wasn’t just indulging in a historical diversion. He was issuing an invitation to those ‘many Russians today who are silently appalled by the sight of their armed forces pulverising Ukrainian cities, expelling innocent families from their homes, and kidnapping thousands of children.’
The job of a ‘spy’ is not to break into top-secret facilities in a tuxedo, but, put bluntly, to encourage foreigners to betray their country
What should they do? ‘I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us.
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