MI6 chief says there is no evidence Putin wants to negotiate Ukraine peace as outgoing head leaves post

ISTANBUL — Britain’s foreign intelligence chief said there is no evidence Putin intends to negotiate peace in Ukraine, and that Moscow is not pursuing a settlement. Richard Moore, who has led MI6 for five years, told reporters at the British consulate in Istanbul that Putin is stringing the world along and seeks to impose his imperial will by any means. But Moore said the Kremlin cannot succeed. He noted that Putin underestimated the resolve of Ukraine and the cost of his ambitions would eventually constrain Moscow’s options. Moore is leaving the post at the end of September, paving the way for Britain’s first female head of MI6.

Ukraine’s war, now in its third year, has continued despite renewed U.S.-led efforts to broker a settlement. Kyiv has indicated openness to ceasefire proposals and a summit, but Moscow has repeatedly demurred. In London, former U.S. President Donald Trump, during a visit to the United Kingdom, said Putin has really let him down in peace efforts. Moore’s remarks came as he prepared to depart and as MI6 rolled out a new approach to sourcing information from the world, including a dark web portal for potential intelligence providers.

Moore argued that Putin’s strategy relies on a distorted narrative of inevitable Russian victory and on using pressure to exhaust Ukraine’s political and military will. He invoked a comparison to Pavlovian conditioning, saying a phone call from the Kremlin acts like a bell that elicits whatever the system wants Putin to hear. He added that the president has mortgaged Russia’s future for his personal legacy and a distorted version of history, and that the war is accelerating the country’s decline.

The invasion, launched in February 2022, has produced tens of thousands of casualties and a protracted stalemate largely confined to eastern Ukraine. Still, the conflict has had a broad geopolitical effect: it has strengthened Ukrainian national identity, deepened Kyiv’s Western orientation, and pushed Sweden and Finland to accelerate their moves to join NATO. Analysts say Putin believes he can outwait Western political commitment and win a long, attritional struggle, while Ukraine seeks to broaden its defense partnerships and attract billions of dollars to expand its domestic weapons industry.

During his remarks, Moore highlighted the limits of external leverage against a determined adversary and warned that greater powers have failed to subjugate weaker ones. He also announced MI6’s new outreach platform, Silent Courier, a secure channel intended to recruit intelligence sources from around the world, including in Russia. The portal invites individuals with information on terrorism or hostile intelligence activity to contact MI6, with the agency emphasizing that anonymity and security are core features of the system.

Earlier in his tenure, Moore served as Britain’s ambassador to Ankara and oversaw a period of intensified Western coordination on Ukraine policy. With his departure, the United Kingdom is poised to appoint its first female chief of MI6, a milestone for the agency as it expands recruitment and modernization efforts aimed at meeting evolving challenges.