Kremlin adviser suggests UK factories could face attack from ‘unknown sources’

Former deputy foreign minister for Russia, Andrei Fedorov, said he could not “100% exclude” the prospect of “semi-military” action against Britain.

Fedorov, told the media that “sooner or later, there might be not only verbal, but maybe some visible reaction from Russia towards the UK.”

This announcement comes after Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s first visit to Ukraine coincided with a deal to share blueprints for long-range Scalp missiles so that Ukraine can manufacture them at home.

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When asked to elaborate, Fedorov said: “There are different discussions how it should look like – it might be so-called technical reaction, maybe some hackers attack from unknown source, not from official level of course.

“There might be different political steps and I cannot exclude 100% that there might be some semi-military, for example.”

Pressed to define “semi-military” he said: “For example, something might happen with enterprises, with the factories which are producing drones for Ukraine.”

Asked whether this meant British factories in Britain being attacked militarily by Russia, the adviser said: “They could be attacked, not by Russia, but by… from unknown sources.”

A GLOBSEC and the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) report from 2025 found that Russia is building a network of "single use" civilian agents in Europe, made up of largely marginalised and economically unstable men, who are deployed to carry out criminal activity on behalf of the Russian state.

Last week, Russia said the UK will pay a price for its weapons agreements with Ukraine. Downing Street has called these threats “outrageous.”

When asked whether his continued support of Ukraine may risk lives in the UK, Mr Burnham told LBC: “The risk obviously was to all of our security if we'd all just allowed Russia to do what it has done without supporting people here. That would have been the biggest risk, because then what would have happened next if, if we all did that?”

When Burnham was questioned over Russia’s accusations that the UK is fueling the fire of the war, he asked: “Who started the fire?”

During his visit, the Prime Minister urged Ukraine’s allies to send more interceptor missiles to Kyiv as Ukraine struggles under continued Russian bombardment.

He co-chaired his first coalition of the willing meeting, where he said the group was doing “everything we can” to “dig into our own stocks and help others dig into their stocks”.

Mr Zelenskyy has repeatedly pleaded for more US-made Patriot interceptor missiles in recent months as Kyiv’s stocks have diminished.

Supplies of Patriots have been diverted to the Middle East since the outbreak of war with Iran, with Ukraine receiving significantly fewer missiles this year than in previous years.

Russia has sought to capitalise on the shortage by stepping up its ballistic missile strikes, killing at least 23 people and wounding more than 100 in the past three days alone.

Mr Burnham stressed the “strength of unity” among coalition of the willing countries during his bilateral talks with Mr Zelenskyy, Downing Street said.

Mr Burnham and Mr Zelenskyy have also signed an agreement to give the Ministry of Defence, working with selected British companies, access to Ukraine’s “Avengers” AI database, Downing Street said.

The deal is expected to help the UK learn from Ukraine’s experience on the battlefield and develop AI-powered solutions to national security challenges in both countries.