UK minister includes Russia, China among 'hostile nations'

Russia, China and Iran are among "hostile nations" that pose cyber security concerns to the UK, said the country's Minister of State for Security and Borders Damian Hinds and accused these countries of launching disinformation campaigns. "The three countries that I mentioned to you have the physical human capability, they have a big cyber presence, they're able to deploy at scale," Hinds told UK's The Telegraph, as quoted by Russian news agency Sputnik.

The minister said the above three countries "are involved in multiple ways" in terms of spies on the ground, cyber-attacks, soldiers on standby, and disinformation campaigns. He also added that North Korea is a fourth hostile state. The UK spy chief last month had said MI6 will have to become "more open to stay secret" and work with tech companies to counter threats posed by countries like Russia who seek to gain an advantage by mastering emerging technologies.

Moore added that the UK was seeing serious threats emanating from Russia and was going to make every effort to contain and repel the threats. Later, the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said that the provocative statements by the head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service about the threats emanating from Russia have hampered the chances of a possible bilateral dialogue.