Former MI6 chief warns of Putin’s intention to continue the war in Ukraine until it is completely won
14 November 2025 10:12
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has no intention of signing a peace deal with Ukraine and intends to subjugate the neighboring country to Moscow, said Richard Moore, former head of the British Foreign Office’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
“In the current circumstances – I’m basing this on information I received a few weeks ago from intelligence – he ( Putin – TMT) is not ready to make a deal,” Moore said in an interview with Bloomberg, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
According to him, the war for the Russian dictator has become “not just a question of territory, but a question of domination and turning Ukraine into something similar to its ( Russia’s) neighbor, Belarus.”
The former head of MI6 noted that Putin is now trying to manipulate Western countries, including the United States.
“He is an intelligence officer. I know such people. He’s trying to maneuver to put us in a position that’s convenient for him, and we have to restrain him and not give him that maneuverability,” Moore explained.
In his opinion, if the West does not help Ukraine win the war, this will affect China’s actions, as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is very closely monitoring the reaction of his allies to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. If Xi Jinping sees that the West is “weak on Ukraine,” he may try to seize Taiwan, Moore warned.
According to him, as additional support for Ukraine, Western countries should strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, allow long-range strikes on Russian territory, help finance the country’s defense industry, and put “much more pressure” on Putin inside Russia.
“I don’t pretend that this will give immediate results. We have to be patient,” Moore said, emphasizing that the West should not lose the “willpower contest” with Russia.
Moore left the post of head of MI6 in September. Blaise Metraveli, former head of MI5 counterintelligence, was appointed as the new head of the service.
The British intelligence assessment coincides with the latest US intelligence, according to which Putin is “more determined than ever” to continue the war and win on the battlefield, despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to organize peace talks.
US intelligence noted that Putin is seeking to consolidate control over Ukrainian territory to justify the human and financial losses that Russia has suffered after its full-scale invasion of the neighboring country.
