Russia’s critics abroad say the Kremlin is intensifying attacks

Analyst Mark Galeotti, who studies the Russian security services, agrees that the campaign against Russia’s “enemies” abroad is intensifying. “I think it reflects the growing paranoia of the Kremlin,” he says, “that it is involved in an existential political struggle.”

With all dissent snuffed out at home, Russia is turning its attention to opponents who have sought refuge in the West. Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president who is now deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, described them as “traitors who have gone over to the enemy and want their Fatherland to perish”.

Another anti-Kremlin activist was also contacted by British police. “They said they needed to discuss the safety of me and my family,” Ksenia Maximova tells me.

The founder of the Russian Democratic Society in London says the police advised her not to travel to certain countries where Russian agents operate more freely.

“[The Kremlin is] stepping up the campaign against ‘enemies’, that’s absolutely true,” she says, “They’re tightening the screws.”

She and her fellow campaigners have noticed an uptick in cyber attacks and attempts to infiltrate the group online.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for UK Counter Terrorism Policing said, “We have been open for some time now about the growing demand within our casework relating to countering state threats… We have been actively increasing resources dedicated to countering the activity of hostile states.”

In December, new UK legislation came into effect, giving police more powers to tackle threats from hostile states such as Russia.