Abandoning Ukraine means “infinitely higher” long-term costs, says MI6 chief | Ukraine

Abandoning Ukraine would endanger British, European and American security and lead to “infinitely higher” long-term costs, the head of MI6 warned in a speech that amounted to an appeal to Donald Trump to continue supporting Kiev.

Richard Moore, giving a rare speech in Paris, said he believed Vladimir Putin “wouldn’t stop at Ukraine” if he were allowed to subjugate it in peace talks with the new Republican US administration.

“If Putin succeeds in reducing Ukraine to a vassal state, he will not stop there. Our security – British, French, European and transatlantic – is at risk,” Moore said in a speech alongside his French counterpart.

The spy chief was touted as a possible surprise appointment as Britain’s ambassador to the US earlier this week, but he is not believed to be pushing for the post. Former Labor minister Peter Mandelson is seen as a leading candidate for a crucial role at a sensitive time for transatlantic relations.

Moore was head of MI6 for four years, which is usually considered a five-year job. Early in his term, he had contact with Trump adviser Richard Grenell, who was acting director of national intelligence and was now identified as a possible US envoy tasked with bringing about an end to the war in Ukraine.

Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the war in Ukraine, complaining about the cost of supporting Kiev, and that he could do so “within 24 hours.” JD Vance, the vice president-elect, has proposed freezing the conflict on the current front lines and denying Ukraine NATO membership for an extended period.

“The cost of supporting Ukraine is well known,” Moore said. “But the cost of not doing so would be infinitely greater. If Putin succeeds, China would weigh the impact, North Korea would be emboldened, and Iran would become even more dangerous.”

A key British argument to the new Trump administration is an attempt to link the war in Ukraine to US concerns about China’s increasing military power, emphasizing that the arrival of North Korean troops brings authoritarianism from Asia into a previously European conflict brings.

Moore, in a speech marking the 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale, highlighted the history of Britain’s intelligence cooperation with France, but was also careful to emphasize that he expects intelligence cooperation between Britain and the US to remain unchanged, regardless of political tensions.

“For decades, the US-UK intelligence alliance has made our societies safer; “I worked successfully with the first Trump administration to advance our shared security and look forward to doing so again,” Moore told his audience at the British Embassy, ​​a short walk from the Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French President, removed.

The intelligence chief’s public presence in the French capital reflects a broader political rapprochement between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron. After Trump’s victory, Starmer met Macron in France, where the two discussed Ukraine. Republicans reportedly wanted European soldiers to act as peacekeepers if a ceasefire were agreed.

Moore said that Putin’s aim was to “challenge the West’s resolve” and that Western spy services had “recently uncovered a shockingly ruthless campaign of Russian sabotage in Europe” – a reference to a mix of arson, assassination and kidnapping plots that included a Arson attack belonging to a DHL warehouse in Birmingham was caused by an incendiary device hidden in a package sent at the behest of Russia.

Moscow has said its demands on Ukraine remain unchanged. Earlier this month, the Kremlin said its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was the “direct result” of a NATO policy aimed at “creating a foothold against Russia on Ukrainian soil.”

Russia continues to call for “demilitarization and denazification” of Ukraine and in previous peace negotiations called for Kiev’s military to be reduced to 50,000 troops. It also claims four eastern and southern Ukrainian provinces, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia, of which only the fourth, Luhansk, is fully occupied.