London, Thanasis Gavos

Russian cyber-attacks on UK facilities and infrastructure will be ‘a feature of our lives’, warned former head of the secret security intelligence service MI6 of the United Kingdom Sir Alex Younger.

Speaking on a Sky News podcast, Sir Alex said Europe had been “cleansed” of the physical presence of Russian spies, but places such as undersea internet cables and other critical national infrastructure could be Russian targets.

“We can deal with this sort of thing,” added Sir Alex, speaking of strong security services in the Western alliance, “but I’m concerned that this is something so unfamiliar and so different from the world we grew up in that it will take a really significant degree of adjustment.” ».

Specifically on the cables that keep the internet running smoothly, Sir Alex said the UK is a geographic hub of connections, but the cables are actually “unprotected”.

As he characteristically commented, “Russia has a recorded program to find these cables and cut them. It’s that simple. It’s easy to do. We cannot defend them.”

Meanwhile, the trial of two Bulgarian women and a man living in Britain began in a London court on charges of conspiracy to spy for Russia.

Katrin Ivanova, 33, Vanya Gaberova, 30, and Tikhomir Ivanchev, 39, are accused of having a role in six planned operations aimed at serving Russian state interests.

Among other things, they are accused of wanting to use advanced surveillance devices to gain access to the cellphones of Ukrainian soldiers training at a US base in Germany.

The three are believed to be members of a Russian espionage network headed by an Austrian national, Jan Marsalek. Two other members of the network, also British Bulgarians, who acted as a link between Marsalek and the defendants, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit espionage.