UK police have created a new unit to counter external threats, said Deputy Chief of Scotland Yard Matt Jewkes.

During a conversation with reporters, he noted that states hostile to London now pose “an even greater challenge” than they did during the Cold War.

In particular, Jewkes reported an increase in the volume of disinformation on the Internet and the presence of information about the alleged preparation of murders of dissidents or political opponents in Britain.

According to the deputy head of Scotland Yard, threats to London primarily come from Tehran, Beijing and Moscow.

“I’ll be honest: we are talking about the structures of the state apparatus of Iran, China and Russia,” Reuters quoted Jukes as saying.

The representative of the kingdom's police added that the burden on his department in connection with such threats has increased fourfold since the incident in Salisbury, where, according to the British side, former GRU colonel Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were allegedly poisoned in 2018.

  • Matt Jewkes

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  • © Danny Lawson/PA Images

Jewkes promised the new unit would improve efforts to counter “malicious activities” from other countries.

“Compared to the rest of the British security community, our unit’s activities

will

be the most public - we will improve our response to the actions of these hostile states,” he said.

“Create an image of an external enemy”

During a conversation with the press, Jewkes also said that the new police unit will be based in its work on the national security law passed in 2023.

As explained on the British Home Office website, this regulation is necessary to counter foreign “hostile activity” directed “against British democracy, economy and values.”

The document provides for the creation of a mechanism for registering foreign influence (The Foreign Influence Registration Scheme), allowing the country's government to require persons who carry out activities “aimed at exerting political influence in the UK at the behest of a foreign power” to undergo special registration with government agencies. 

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  • © Vuk Valcic/SOPA Images/LightRocket

The national security law also gives law enforcement the ability to arrest people earlier in an investigation, hold them in custody longer than usual, and a number of other powers.

Experts have different assessments of the creation of a new unit to combat foreign interference in Britain's internal affairs.

Thus, Associate Professor at the Academy of Labor and Social Relations Pavel Feldman, in a conversation with RT, recalled that in recent years the UK has been pursuing an increasingly aggressive foreign policy.

And this, he said, expectedly provokes a response from other countries, so the risks for Britain have indeed, in some sense, increased.

“Britain has outlined its claims to the role of leader of the West and is waging a hybrid war against many countries, including even its European partners, for example Germany.

London is pursuing a rather provocative policy in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia.

As a result, Britain made a fair number of enemies.

So it is not surprising that London is trying to organizationally strengthen its intelligence services, because its aggressive policy will inevitably meet with opposition,” Feldman explained.

Evgeniy Semibratov, deputy director of the Institute of Strategic Studies and Forecasts of RUDN, holds a slightly different point of view.

He recalled that this is not the first time London has made such accusations against the Russian Federation.

Thus, at the end of 2021, Nick Carter, who held the post of Chief of the British Defense Staff, accused the Kremlin of cyber attacks and creating a migration crisis on the borders of Europe, and also said that Moscow poses a greater threat than extremism.

In addition, Carter admitted that the “Russian threat” was at the top of the list of priorities of the then national security adviser to the British Prime Minister, Stephen Lovegrove.

“Before these accusations there were also Skripals.

One can also recall how the British fanned hysteria over the alleged poisoning of Litvinenko.

But these were the 2000s, when our bilateral relations, as well as the international situation in general, were not in such a deplorable state as they are now,” said RT’s interlocutor. 

In his opinion, the British traditionally resort to such rhetoric when they need to inflate Russophobia for one reason or another.

“London is whipping up hysteria.

They need to create the image of an external enemy against the backdrop of very serious economic problems.

Now social protests are sweeping Germany, and the situation is difficult in the UK.

There is evidence that international capital is flowing to Asia, weakening London's role as a global financial center.

In these conditions, Britain is playing to raise the stakes, accusing the Russian Federation and other countries of espionage activities,” the political scientist explained.

"London is worried for good reason"

We also note that Matt Jewkes, in his speech, expressed fears that Israel’s operation in the Gaza Strip could lead to the radicalization of some residents of the United Kingdom and an increase in the terrorist threat. 

According to analysts, it is this threat that is more real for London than conclusions about the “hostile activities” of Russia, China and Iran.

“Britain itself has created this kind of threat for itself with its incompetent migration policy.

It opened the door for representatives of radical religious movements, who, under the guise of demands for political asylum, found a new place of residence in London.

What they really do hate is the United Kingdom.

In fact, London has warmed up people interested in the death of the collective West in general and Great Britain in particular,” says Feldman.

Evgeniy Semibratov shares a similar opinion.

According to him, the problem of radicalization against the backdrop of the events in Gaza threatens not only London, but also other European capitals.

“In many European capitals, including London, there are entire neighborhoods where migrants from the Middle East live and where even representatives of law enforcement and local administrations no longer interfere.

Considering that the West supports Israel’s policies, it is quite expected that very strong discontent may arise in these enclaves,” the analyst said.

From his point of view, migrant communities in Europe remain an ideal environment for the spread of extremist ideology.

“The Muslim population in these countries consists, as a rule, of young people who have lost everything in their homeland.

Such a person, having settled in a new place and finding himself in a fairly closed society, is an ideal object for propaganda.

Such enclaves are turning into an optimal environment for organizing mass protests directed against the governments of European countries, so London’s worries are not in vain,” Semibratov concluded.