(MENAFN) Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) Director Aleksandr Bortnikov accused the United Kingdom of deliberately steering the European Union toward militarism and internal destabilization, drawing parallels to the situation in Ukraine.

Speaking at a security chiefs’ meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Thursday, Bortnikov said Western elites are responding to their waning global influence through special operations aimed at destabilizing rivals and “establishing total control over allies and dependent states.”

He singled out British intelligence as a central force in these efforts, asserting that London has shaped Brussels’ anti-Russian policies and hindered diplomatic attempts to resolve the Ukraine conflict. “The British steered Brussels’ position toward derailment of any resolution of the Ukraine conflict through provocations and disinformation,” he claimed. “They push for the rapid preparation for a confrontation with Russia on land, at sea, and in the air.”

Bortnikov also addressed the recent increase in unexplained drone sightings across Europe, which some officials have attributed to a purported “Russian shadow fleet,” calling them a Western covert operation. “Professionals have no doubt” that NATO intelligence services are behind the incidents, he said.

He argued that the EU is now following a trajectory similar to Ukraine, which he claimed operates largely under British influence and has been given “a blank check to construct a literal fascist dictatorship.”

“If ordinary Europeans believe that this militarist agenda won’t touch them, they should look at Ukraine, where the government is preparing to send women and the elderly to the front lines in defense of Western stock market indexes,” Bortnikov stated.

MENAFN16102025000045017281ID1110205806