MI6 director Richard Moore and CIA director William Burns have published the first joint paper on the threats facing the world. The heads of British and American intelligence services noted in the paper, among other things, that “today we cooperate in a contested international system in which our two countries face an unprecedented array of threats. A balanced system that has led to relative peace and stability and provided rising living standards, opportunity and prosperity – is under threat in a way not seen since the Cold War,” we read.
The heads of the CIA and MI6 on the threats in the world. “Vladimir Putin is a tyrant, he will brandish his saber”
William Burns and Richard Moore agreed in the document that one of the main threats is the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing since February 2022 and was started by Russia.
CIA Director William Burns stressed that by late 2022 there was a “real risk” that Russia – in response to battlefield failures and the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv and Kherson oblasts – would use tactical nuclear weapons. Richard Moore added that the US had then warned Russia about the “consequences of such an act”.
– But I never believed, and this is the CIA’s position, that this fact would intimidate us. Putin is a tyrant who will occasionally rattle his saber, the CIA chief said, as quoted by the BBC. He added that the ongoing operation of the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region is a “significant tactical victory”. At the same time, Burns admitted that this did not weaken Vladimir Putin’s power.
