MI6 Head:No Evidence Putin to Negotiate09/19 06:05

   

   ISTANBUL (AP) -- There is "absolutely no evidence" that Russia's President 
Vladimir Putin wants to negotiate peace in Ukraine, the head of Britain's 
foreign intelligence agency said Friday in an outgoing speech.

   Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6 as it is 
more commonly known, said Putin was "stringing us along."

   "He seeks to impose his imperial will by all means at his disposal. But he 
cannot succeed," Moore said. "Bluntly, Putin has bitten off more than he can 
chew. He thought he was going to win an easy victory. But he -- and many others 
-- underestimated the Ukrainians."

   The war has continued unabated in the three years since Russia invaded its 
neighbor, despite renewed U.S.-led efforts in recent months to steer Moscow and 
Kyiv to a settlement. Ukraine has accepted proposals for a ceasefire and a 
summit meeting, but Moscow has demurred.

   U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday during a state visit to the United 
Kingdom that Putin " has really let me down " in peace efforts.

   Moore was speaking at the British consulate in Istanbul after five years as 
head of MI6. He leaves the post at the end of September. The agency will then 
get its first female chief.

   During his tenure, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 
February 2022, a war that has seen tens of thousands killed and still rages, 
principally in eastern Ukraine.

   Moore said the invasion had strengthened Ukrainian national identity and 
accelerated its westward trajectory, as well as pushing Sweden and Finland to 
join NATO.

   "Putin has sought to convince the world that Russian victory is inevitable. 
But he lies. He lies to the world. He lies to his people. Perhaps he even lies 
to himself," Moore told a news conference.

   Referring to the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov, who conditioned dogs to 
respond to a bell, Moore said a phone call from the Russian president was "the 
equivalent of Pavlov's tinkling bell inside the Kremlin, eliciting learned 
behavior to tell Putin whatever it is the system thinks he want to hear."

   He said that Putin was "mortgaging his country's future for his own personal 
legacy and a distorted version of history" and the war was "accelerating this 
decline."

   Moore, who previously served as the U.K.'s ambassador to Ankara, the Turkish 
capital, added that "greater powers than Russia have failed to subjugate weaker 
powers than Ukraine."

   Analysts say Putin believes he can outlast the political commitment of 
Ukraine's Western partners and win a protracted war of attrition by wearing 
down Ukraine's smaller army with sheer weight of numbers.

   Ukraine, meanwhile, is racing to expand its defense cooperation with other 
countries and secure billions of dollars of investment in its domestic weapons 
industry.

   The spy chief was speaking as MI6 unveiled a dark web portal to allow 
potential intelligence providers to contact the service. Dubbed " Silent 
Courier," the secure messaging platform aims to recruit new spies for the U.K., 
including in Russia.

   "To those men and women in Russia who have truths to share and the courage 
to share them, I invite you to contact MI6," Moore said.

   Not just Russians but "anyone, anywhere in the world" would be able to use 
the portal to offer sensitive information on terrorism or "hostile intelligence 
activity," he said.