LONDON, November 2. /TASS/. The UK’s MI5 security service head Andrew Parker’s allegations about a threat from Russia to the United Kingdom testify to the fact that the British establishment has an antagonistic attitude towards Russia, Marcus Papadopoulos, the British political scientist, editor-in-chief and publisher of the Politics First magazine, told TASS on Wednesday.
"Andrew Parker, Director-General of MI5, is utterly wrong to argue that Russia constitutes the main threat to Britain," Papadopoulos said. "That position is actually held by Muslim extremists, both British nationals and foreign nationals. However, Mr. Parker's comments should come as no surprise to anyone. MI5 is an integral part of the British establishment, and the British establishment has historically held an antagonistic and racist attitude towards Russia and Russians, from Tsarist times to Communist times right through to modern times."
The political scientist included "the Monarchy, the aristocracy, the military leadership, the intelligence leadership and the most senior civil-servants" in the category of the British establishment as they all "regard Russia as Britain's natural enemy, as freedom's natural enemy and as civilization's natural enemy." Papadopoulos said with assurance that "the British establishment, which considers the US as a kindred spirit, is not interested in having cordial relations with Russia because of its deeply held conviction that Russia is an abominable country."
"Given that it is the British establishment which holds the reins of power in the UK, and given that the Conservative Party, which is historically known as the party of the British establishment, is in power, there is simply no chance of a change in attitude towards Russia. The British establishment is always waiting for a pretext to politically and economically attack Russia. That is a reality which people should remember," Papadopoulos said.
Response from Russia’s embassy in London
On Tuesday, Russia’s embassy to the UK tweeted commenting on Parker’s interview with the UK daily, The Guardian, where he said that Russia was posing a threat to Great Britain.
"Saddened to see a professional trapped to his own propaganda-created world," the embassy said and posted a poster for the US comedy of 1966 ‘The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!’
Parker’s remarks about Russia
On Monday, The Guardian released an interview with Parker, who claimed that Russia posed an increasing threat to the UK as was using sophisticated tools in its foreign policy to achieve its aims abroad.
"It (Russia) is using its whole range of state organs and powers to push its foreign policy abroad in increasingly aggressive ways - involving propaganda, espionage, subversion and cyber-attacks. Russia is at work across Europe and in the UK today. It is MI5’s job to get in the way of that," Parker said.
Kremlin slams Parker’s allegations
Commenting on Parker’s interview, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said:
"This is completely untrue, we cannot agree with it at all."
The Kremlin spokesman said he can agree with Parker "on only one point: Russia is really ‘using its whole range’ of opportunities but, contrary to what he (Parker) said, all possibilities envisaged by international law to promote and defend its interests abroad."
"Russia has always been doing this, being guided by the principles of mutually beneficial relations and seeking to build good-neighborly and mutually advantageous ties with all of its partners," the spokesman explained.