Britain's spy chief calls on Russians working for Putin regime to defect

July 19 (UPI) -- The head of the British secret intelligence service MI6 on Wednesday urged Russians who felt ashamed of serving in Vladimir Putin's regime to defect or become spies for Britain.

Richard Moore, the spy agency's chief, said Russians struggling with pangs of conscience over the war in Ukraine were encouraged to come join the service, in a speech in the Czech Republic capital, Prague.

"I invite them to do what others have already done this past 18 months and join hands with us -- our door is always open," Moore said.

"We will handle their offers of help with the discretion and professionalism for which our service is famed, their secrets will always be safe with us."

In his speech marking the 55th anniversary of the crackdown by Russian forces that ended the 1968 Prague Spring uprising in then-Czechoslovakia, Moore said he knew many Russian were torn by the "same dilemmas and the same tugs of conscience" as their forebears did back then.

He said Russians were quietly appalled to see their military "pulverizing" the cities of a "kindred country."

"They know in their hearts that Putin's case for attacking a fellow Slavic nation is fraudulent, a miasma of lies and fantasy," said Moore in the only speech he has given this year.

Regarding the short-lived mutiny by the Wagner mercenary forces of Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin in June, Moore said the compromise agreement the Russian president was forced to negotiate in order for the fighters to stand down was a "humiliation."

He said that while Prigozhin had not been seen since and his exact whereabouts remained a mystery, as far as MI6 was concerned the Wagner leader was still alive.

Under the behind-closed-doors deal, brokered in part by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, Prigozhin was offered safe passage out of Russia to Belarus and his forces were offered the choice of joining him there, demobilizing, or signing up with the Russian regular army.

Ukraine's border guard confirmed Saturday that Wagner Group forces had arrived in Belarus as Russian President Vladimir Putin continued efforts to split the mercenaries from their leader.

However, Ukraine's State Border Service was unable to provide details saying its officers were working to gauge the numbers and location of the Wagner units arriving.