Kremlin scorns MI5 assertion that Russian spies plan mayhem in UK and Europe

MOSCOW (Reuters) - An assertion by the head of the UK's MI5 security service that Russia's GRU military intelligence agency is bent on causing chaos across Britain and Europe is baseless and deserves to be ignored, the Kremlin said on Thursday.

MI5 chief Ken McCallum said in a speech on Tuesday that the GRU was "on a sustained mission to generate mayhem on British and European streets: we've seen arson, sabotage and more."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia would not accept such allegations and they were not worthy of attention.

"All these statements are absolutely unsubstantiated and unfounded," he said.

Against the background of the war in Ukraine, European countries and the NATO alliance have accused Russian spies of mounting a range of hostile activities across the continent in recent months.

In a joint article for the Financial Times last month, the heads of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Britain's foreign spy service MI6 said they were working together to disrupt a "reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe being waged by Russian intelligence, and its cynical use of technology to spread lies and disinformation designed to drive wedges between us".

(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov, writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Andrew Osborn/Guy Faulconbridge)