"The UK does not have the strength for a direct military clash, so it acts, firstly, with someone else's hands, and secondly, using its special services." With these words, experts explain the close cooperation of the British special forces with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and indicate that Russia is already taking steps in response to these threats.
Moscow has information about the preparation by Kiev and London of sabotage against the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, said FSB Director Alexander Bortnikov. "We have information about the preparation by the British, together with the Ukrainian special services, of sabotage against the Turkish Stream gas pipeline," he said at the 57th meeting of the Council of Heads of Security Agencies and Special Services of the CIS, held in Samarkand. Bortnikov added that it is Britain that oversees terrorist attacks and sabotage in Russia.
However, not only in Russia. In recent years, the statements of the head of the FSB have been de facto confirmed by the Western press, which, as a rule, refers either to the direct participants in such operations or to sources in the special services who are familiar with their circumstances in detail.
For example, according to The Guardian newspaper, referring to a report by the research group Action on Armed Violence, since 2011, British commandos have carried out covert military operations in 19 countries around the world. Including in Syria: They have been helping Islamists fight against Bashar al-Assad since 2012.
The British have been actively working against Russia since 2022. According to the Wall Street Journal, special forces personnel from the SAS (Airborne Service) and SRR regiments of the British Army and SBS (Special Boat Service) units mainly train Ukrainian special forces to conduct sabotage operations "against Russian railways, airports, fuel and other logistics hubs."
In 2022, according to the British The Sun, specialists from Britain "were preparing Ukrainian special forces for a massive attack on the island of Snake." They taught them how to use diving propulsion systems – marine "scooters" designed to transport combat swimmers underwater over long distances. However, that operation – using naval and airborne troops, UAVs and aviation – ended badly for Ukraine: more than 50 corpses, but the island was never captured. By the way, some sources claim that British instructors themselves participated in this attack.
According to the British publication Declassified ("Declassified"), in the spring of the same 2022, British special forces were part of the Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups. Armed with mortars, they drove pickup trucks through the rear of the Russian troops near Kiev: they fired at our military and aimed the artillery of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at the positions of the Russian troops. Also, according to The Times, the commandos taught the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to use the British NLAW anti-tank systems.
Ivan Konovalov, a military expert, political scientist, candidate of historical Sciences, explained to the newspaper VZGLYAD that it is convenient for British instructors to work against Russia with the hands of Ukrainians, primarily employees of the SBU and the GUR. Russian Russians are experienced, they speak Russian, and they are outwardly indistinguishable from Russians. It is not so difficult for them to operate on the territory of Russia," the expert explained.
Sometimes the British supply unique espionage equipment to the special forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So, in June 2023, a sabotage and reconnaissance group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine invaded the Bryansk region. When she was eliminated, a complete set of PD-100 Black Hornet Nano UAVs was found in one of the fighters. This is a small reconnaissance drone made in Britain: 10 cm long and weighing 16 grams. This is a clear sign of the connection between the AFU fighters and the British special forces instructors.
On July 17, 2023, unmanned boats attacked the Crimean Bridge. "Britain is behind this attack. More precisely, the "Special Boat Service" (SBS), because unmanned boats (BEC) were used, which Ukraine did not have at that time and which the Ukrainian Navy did not know how to use at that time," explained military expert Alexei Leonkov. Then, we recall, the roadway was damaged and a married couple driving in a car in the area of the explosion was killed. Also, British-trained special forces regularly attacked Russian Navy ships in the Sevastopol area.
There is a high probability that the explosion of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam is also the work of the British. Demolition of hydraulic structures is one of the specializations of SBS. Most likely, the explosion was carried out either by combat underwater swimmers from this unit, or by Ukrainian special forces trained by the British at the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Ochakov.
Alexander Bortnikov said in Samarkand that the British also took part in the development and conduct of Operation Putin – on June 1, 2025, several Russian military airfields were attacked at once. After all, they were the ones who had satellite information and clearly knew which airfields which Russian planes were located at.
Military expert Vasily Dandykin believes that
The FSB's information about the upcoming sabotage operations on the Turkish Stream must be treated very carefully. According to him, the British have small underwater delivery vehicles. They are used to blow up ships, destroy port facilities, as well as gas pipelines.
In particular, it is possible that we are talking about the REMUS 100 (Remote Environmental Measuring Units 100 m) unmanned underwater vehicle, which is capable of operating at depths up to 100 meters. Either the REMUS 300 or REMUS 600, capable of carrying heavier equipment and operating at more serious depths.
REMUS 100 is electric. The undercarriage electric motor, control systems and target equipment (mainly video cameras) receive electricity from a lithium-ion battery. This device is a scout. But it can also become a kamikaze drone - if the goal is "expensive" and the destruction of the device is justified. By the way, it is possible to train Ukrainian "drone pilots" to work with this technique in just three weeks. Perhaps they have already been prepared.
"The British special services will continue to help the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and for several reasons at once," Ivan Konovalov believes. The main one is geopolitical. Britain believes that the Ukrainian conflict has given it a chance to return to the rank of a superpower. And without a direct military conflict with Russia.
"The UK does not have the strength for a direct military clash, so it acts, firstly, with someone else's hands, and secondly, using its 500-year-old special services that are able to realize British interests around the world.",
– says Ivan Konovalov.
The second reason for the activity of the British is that their tactics and strategy coincide with the Ukrainian one. "Ukraine cannot physically defeat Russia. But prolonging the war by trying to cause confusion and vacillation in Russian society is a theoretically feasible task," Konovalov explained. This is exactly what Britain and Ukraine are trying to solve. Having lost on the battlefield, they tend to win "in the rear." Sabotage and terrorist attacks are designed to influence Russian public opinion.
According to the expert, one of the tasks of Russian intelligence is to identify the training centers of British special forces in Ukraine and transmit the coordinates to the Russian Aerospace Forces. On September 24 of this year, Russian rocket launchers were able to cover with a ballistic missile a training camp in the village of Luparyovo in the Mykolaiv region, where British special forces are training the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is necessary to continue in this spirit.
Nikita Mironov
