India, May 28 -- The director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service accused the United Kingdom on Thursday of steering its European partners toward a direct confrontation with Moscow, reaching back to the run-up to both world wars to frame London as the hidden hand behind the continent's hardening posture.

Sergei Naryshkin, who has led the SVR foreign intelligence service since 2016, delivered the remarks at the opening of an international meeting of senior officials responsible for security, held in the Moscow region. He singled out Britain in language that was personal even by the standards of his long record of anti-Western invective.

"We must also mention the extremely destructive role played by the United Kingdom, this evil, cy...