UK to gather defense CEOs for ‘closed-door’ Russian security briefing

BELFAST — The UK says it will convene secretive meetings with CEOs from the defense and critical infrastructure industries to address “threats posed by Russia.”

In a joint statement on Friday, Britain’s Ministry of Defence and Cabinet Office said that armed forces minister Louise Sandher-Jones will chair one “threat briefing” with local defense companies and security minister Dan Jarvis is to lead another for critical infrastructure groups.

The briefings will “draw on world class intelligence capabilities” and take place in government buildings in Whitehall, London, though the statement does not include any specific timeframe.

“Russia poses an enduring and significant threat to the UK and its interests around the world,” the announcement warns. “The state and its proxies knowingly seek to disrupt businesses and organisations that underpin the British way of life or are vital to the defence of Ukraine.”

Moscow is employing “tactics like cyber attacks, sabotage and disinformation to take organisations offline, disrupt activity, and weaken trust.”

The focus on such underhand methods follows a Danish intelligence report forecast that alleged that in the near term, Russia will carry out hybrid attacks at a greater frequency against NATO member states.

Russia has generally dismissed the allegations of sabotage as Western provocation. The Russian Embassy in Denmark said in response to the Danish report that it was not the “first time” Copenhagen had “asserted the growth of ‘hybrid threats’ from our side, inventing scenarios of Russian aggression against NATO countries to justify rapid militarization.”

A spokesperson for ADS, a trade body representing UK aerospace, defense, security and space companies, told Breaking Defense today that the “threats facing our sectors are not new, but they are becoming increasingly visible. … In an age of hybrid warfare, we need a security posture that addresses the very real, multidimensional threat.”

Beyond the briefings, the spokesperson said that “clarity is required” from the government on when it will meet NATO’s 1.5 percent GDP target on security and critical national infrastructure.

Earlier this month, a UK man was accused in British court of planning to “torch” UK drone factory’s on Moscow’s behalf. The man was charged with “assisting a foreign intelligence service and intending to commit or engage in conduct to prepare an act of sabotage,” based on alleged communications with another individual suspected of links to the GRU Volunteer Corps, controlled by Russia’s military intelligence agency, according to a CPS statement.

The man is “accused of researching four drone manufacturing sites” in the town of Swindon, England, per a BBC report.

Beyond their use in the British military, UK-made drones are also supplied to Ukraine as part of the country’s deep strike campaign, targeting long range Russian targets.