# Russia is not the gravest threat > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "Russia is not the gravest threat," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/russia-is-not-the-gravest-threat/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *John Kiriakou's rejection of the first policy speech by MI6's first woman chief, Blaise Metreweli, which named Russia and the Russo-Ukrainian war as the greatest danger to Britain and Europe. His counter-case is demographic and fiscal, Russia is practically bankrupt with a birth rate that would empty it in a century, and his own candidate for the real threat is not a state at all.* - **Speaker:** Blaise Metreweli, first woman to run MI6 - **Age of the service, per Kiriakou:** 116 years - **Her thesis:** Russia is the gravest threat to Britain and Europe - **Kiriakou's verdict:** "Not convincing" - **His candidate:** Amorphous threats such as climate change **"Russia is not the gravest threat"** is [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)'s assessment of the inaugural policy speech by Blaise Metreweli, the first woman to head [MI6](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mi6), delivered in December 2025. ## The speech Kiriakou summarised it before disagreeing with it, and noted the service's age in passing: *"the MI6 is old. They I didn't realize it was 116 years old. um according to the press, she's the first woman to run MI6 and she gave a big policy speech and basically she went on and on and on about how the biggest threat to I guess the UK and to Europe in general is Russia and specifically it all comes down to the Russo Ukrainian war."*[1] His first reaction was to the choice of subject rather than the argument: *"I thought that was really kind of sad."* He noted she also covered artificial intelligence as both a threat and a tool, and read her as coming from the technical side.[1] ## The rejection Asked directly what he made of her analysis, Kiriakou gave the two-word answer twice. *"not convincing. not convincing yes AI is a very big problem but you can't say that Russia is the gravest threat to you know, freedom and democracy on the face of the earth. Where do you come up with that?"*[2] The grounds are material. *"misuse of technology could be China could be. Russia is practically bankrupt. It has a population that is shrinking to the point where at its current birth rate there will be no Russians in a 100 years."* He accepted at once that the extrapolation is not a forecast, his interlocutor called it a funny factoid and Kiriakou did not defend it as literal.[2] What he will not concede is the ranking: *"I'm just not seeing Russia as this, you know, in yourface global immediate threat that has to No, I I just I'm not."*[3] ## What he puts in its place Asked whether any nation state qualifies, even China, Kiriakou moved the category rather than the answer. *"I think that the real threats are going to be more amorphous like climate change which may not be specific nation state versus nation state."*[4] ## See also - [MI6](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/mi6) - [China as economic threat](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/china-economic-threat) - [Five Eyes](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/five-eyes) - [The MI5 model for America](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-mi5-model-for-america) ## Sources 1. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 06:44. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=404s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 2. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 07:16. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=436s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 3. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 07:49. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=469s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ 4. John Kiriakou on CIA Coup Tactics, Trump's WMD, New MI6 Chief (2025-12-17), at 08:19. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WIKj6XP27w&t=499s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-12-17-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-john-kiriakou-on-cia-coup-tactics-trump-s-wmd/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/russia-is-not-the-gravest-threat/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt