Britain is facing a growing threat from the secret attempts of destabilization by Russia, said the head of the security service and counterintelligence of the country.

In an interview with the guardian newspaper, published on Tuesday, Andrew Parker, Director General п?п?5 said that the phantom menace from foreign countries, primarily Russia, have risen at a time when the threat of radical Islam has attracted the most attention.

Russia "using all its range of public bodies and authority pushes its foreign policy abroad is becoming more and more aggressive ways - involving propaganda, espionage, sabotage and cyber-attacks," he said, in the first newspaper interview with the current head of MI5. In addition to the loud activities of Russia in Ukraine and Syria, it also was responsible for "high volume activity outside the field of view of cyber threats," he said. "Russia is the secret threat for many decades. These days there are more ways to spy.

He noted that Moscow "is increasingly looking towards the West and seems to be working accordingly." Press Secretary of the Kremlin Dmitry Peskov denied Parker at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday."These words are not true, we cannot agree with them," he told reporters, according to state news Agency TASS.

Russia has faced criticism over alleged secret actions lately. The Obama administration accuses the Kremlin of hacking into the email of the National Committee of the Democratic party during the elections in the United States. The Ministry of internal security and the Office of the Director of national intelligence said in a joint statement that the release of the hacked emails was "designed to interfere in the electoral process in the United States," adding that such actions "are not new" to Moscow. "The Russians used similar tactics and techniques throughout Europe and Eurasia to influence public opinion," the statement said.

Russia has denied the hacking charges, labelling them "ridiculous".
sections: Politics, Accidents