Russia has around 1,000 secret agents embedded in Britain, it has emerged.
Vladimir Putin ’s spooks are hiding behind normal jobs from minicab drivers and baristas to university boffins, intelligence analysis found.
The spies, handled by SVR, the Kremlin’s version of MI6, have even infiltrated high levels of government, experts say.
Calls are being made for the public to be warned of the insider threat in the same way they were alerted to the IRA during the Troubles.
One intelligence source said Russia had created “extensive and sophisticated networks” of moles operating in “all walks of life”.
The source added: “No one should think they are immune. I’m talking about students, trade unions, protest groups, teachers, Uber drivers as well as politicians, the civil service and the police.”
The number of spies working out of the Russian embassy in London has fallen in recent years – but “unknowns” have surged, it is understood. In 2018 ex-double agent Sergei Skripal and daughter Yulia were poisoned in Salisbury, Wilts. Three Russian spies were blamed.
There are an estimated 73,000 Russian expats in the UK and British spooks believe some feed information to the Kremlin.
Some Brits are also loyal to Moscow. On Friday security guard David Smith, 58, pleaded guilty to sharing secrets with Russia while working at the British Embassy in Berlin.
Putin’s agents have spied on nuclear power stations and Army, RAF and Royal Navy bases, including Faslane in Scotland, where Britain’s nuclear subs are based. Ex military intelligence officer Colonel Philip Ingram said: “The numbers involved with spying could easily be over 1,000.
“They use all of the old skills, compromising people, infiltrating organisations and recruiting spies. The threat is extensive.”