Russian attempts to pay spies should be treated like attempts to fund ISIS, Labour told

Russian attempts to pay spies for "terrorism" must be treated like efforts to funnel cash to ISIS and Al-Qaeda jihadis, ministers have been told.

The Government must tell bank bosses and crypto-currency firms to include Kremlin sabotage operations in a "re-energised" effort to crack down on terrorist financing, think-tank RUSI said.

Russian intelligence agencies hire moles to carry out arson attacks, often paying them with cryptocurrencies.

A British national who ordered an arson attack on a warehouse holding satellite equipment and humanitarian aid for Ukrainian forces had a cryptocurrency account with almost £60,000 in it.

And the highly respected think-tank, RUSI, said in a submission to an inquiry into the National Security Strategy, that Moscow is paying criminals it finds on social media.

They said: "Since 9/11, the global finance and security community has placed 'combatting the finance of terrorism' at the centre of the broad response to terrorism.

"In the UK, this expertise had developed in the decades that preceded the al Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington DC as security authorities sought to disrupt the activity of the Provisional IRA.

"Today, the UK and its allies face a new iteration of 'terrorism' in the form of sabotage attacks conducted directly or indirectly by agents of the Russian Federation.

"Across Europe, since the Kremlin mounted its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the prevalence of sabotage attacks against a range of high and low value targets has escalated.

"A particular characteristic of these sabotage attacks is what has become known as the 'gig economy' nature of the attacks where perpetrators are recruited online via social media and messaging channels such as Telegram.

"Often these perpetrators have no particular link to Russia, but they are recruited via the lure of financial reward, primarily paid via cryptocurrency. This is a new - albeit familiar - front in the fight against terrorist financing via which individuals are recruited - and rewarded - remotely through the power of a combination of social media and cryptocurrency.

"We recommend that the government re-energise its focus on the financing of terrorism - including private sector engagement with both the traditional and FinTech/crypto communities - to encompass the financing of sabotage to ensure its response reflects this new front."

The head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum warned wannabe Russian spies "you're disposable".

He added that Russian intelligence services may not even pay their agents for their arson and sabotage conspiracies.

Sir Ken said: "The Russian intelligence services are picking up what they can online - recruiting proxies on social media platforms, instructing them via encrypted apps, and offering payment in cryptocurrencies.

"Our six convicts will have plenty of time to reflect on their side of the bargain while they serve their combined fifty years.

"As, I expect, will the five men convicted in July of setting fire to an East London warehouse containing supplies for Ukraine.

"If you are a proxy, you're disposable. You may well be 'ghosted' on payday. When you're caught, you'll be abandoned. You will not feature in a prisoner exchange. You're on your own."

It comes after a group of Wagner Group stooges were jailed for setting fire to a warehouse storing aid to Ukraine, as part of a planned "campaign of terrorism and sabotage" for the Russian state.

The arson attack on the industrial units in Leyton, east London, on March 20 2024, caused about £1 million in damage, put lives at risk, and took 60 firefighters to put out.

Afterwards, the architect Dylan Earl set his sights on more "missions", targeting a restaurant and wine shop in Mayfair and the kidnap of the owner, the wealthy Russian dissident Evgeny Chichvarkin.

The court had heard that Earl and Reeves never left their bedrooms as they orchestrated the arson attack for the Wagner Group which was acting on behalf of the Russian Federation.

Earl told a Wagner Group operative whom he met on Telegram that he was keen to carry out a series of "missions", of which the Leyton fire was to be the first.

Earl's contact, Privet Bot, instructed him to watch Cold War spy drama The Americans and use it as a "manual" for his covert mission.

Earl was arrested in a B&Q car park in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and videos of the warehouse fire being started were found on his iPhone.

In a search of his home, police recovered a Russian flag, more than £20,000 in cash and cocaine hydrochloride with a street value of some £34,000.

Evidence on his phone revealed details of a cryptocurrency account holding more than £58,000 and images of bundles of cash estimated to total £175,000.