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Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has put a damper on Vladimir Putin’s war narrative and raised “questions” among the Russian elite about the meaning of the war, two of the world’s leading intelligence chiefs said.

CIA Director Bill Burns said Kursk was “a significant tactical success” that boosted Ukrainian morale and exposed Russia’s weaknesses. It “raised questions among the Russian elite about where this is all going,” he said.

He spoke on Saturday alongside MI6 chief Richard Moore at the Financial Times weekend festival in London.

Moore said the Kursk offensive was “a typically bold and daring move by the Ukrainians … to try to change the rules of the game” – but warned that it was “too early” to say how long Kiev’s forces would be able to control the Russian territory they had captured.

It is the first time in the 77-year history of the intelligence partnership between the two agencies that they have appeared together at a public event. It is also the latest step by the American and British intelligence agencies to step out of the shadows and warn the countries they serve about the growing dangers facing the world.

The intelligence chiefs discussed what they saw as an unprecedented range of threats to the international order, ranging from Putin’s war in Ukraine and Russia’s sabotage campaign across Europe to the rise of China and rapid technological change.

A particular focus is on the conflict in the Middle East.

When asked whether there would be an agreement to release the Israeli hostages held in Gaza, Burns, who was instrumental in the negotiations, said: “The question is whether politicians on both sides are prepared to acknowledge that enough is enough and that the time has come for them to make tough choices and difficult compromises.”

Burns said that while he could not say whether the talks would be successful, “I also cannot tell you how close we are to them at the moment.” A possible agreement between Israel and Hamas is “90 percent” complete and “the last 10 percent” is always the hardest part.

A more detailed proposal will be available “in the next few days … (and) I hope that they (the leaders of Israel and Hamas) realize what is at stake here.”

Burns also stressed that a two-state solution was central to securing a lasting peace, as it was “critical to providing some sense of hope for the day after, not just for Gaza but for all Palestinians and Israelis.”

“It’s a very difficult goal to achieve… but all I can say is: show me a better alternative,” he said.

Burns, 68, is a career diplomat who now works as a spy, and Moore, 61, is an intelligence officer who previously worked as a diplomat. Both are Oxford University graduates who have worked in Russia, the Middle East and Asia alongside their professional roles.

On Russia, both men said there was no sign that Putin’s grip on power had loosened. But it would be wrong to “confuse a tight power with a stable power,” Moore said, especially since the attack on Kursk “brought the war to ordinary Russians.”

Both also said it would be wrong to take Putin’s threats of nuclear escalation lightly, but the West should not allow itself to be intimidated unnecessarily. “Putin is a tyrant and will continue to rattle his sabre from time to time,” Burns said.

When asked whether Iran had supplied short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, Burns said this would “represent a dramatic escalation.”

Moore said that if Russia were to actually use Iranian missiles in Ukraine in addition to the drones already supplied by Tehran, it would be “very obvious.”

Recent Russian sabotage operations across Europe have been “reckless,” Moore said, describing Russian intelligence as having “gone a bit wild.” But “in the UK, this is nothing new,” he added, referring to the attempted murder of Russian double agent Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018.

Asked whether Russian intelligence might be conducting similar acts of sabotage against the United States by facilitating illegal immigration across the Mexican border, Burns said, “That’s something we’re very focused on. Part of that is because so many Russian agents have been expelled from Europe. So they’re looking for somewhere to go instead.”

Despite the threat from Russia and the risk of conflagration in the Middle East, both Burns and Moore stressed that their greatest challenge is the rise of China.

Burns said the CIA’s funding for China has tripled in the past three years and now accounts for 20 percent of the agency’s budget. He said he traveled to China twice last year for talks to “avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.”

Moore described regular contact with his Chinese counterparts as “indispensable.”

Burns and Moore said one aim of their joint appearance was to underscore the strength of British-American relations at a time of unprecedented global risks.

“The international order … is under threat in a way we have not seen since the Cold War,” both intelligence chiefs wrote in an article published in the FT on Saturday. Countering this risk “is the foundation of our special relationship … (which) we can rely on into the next century,” they said.

The closest event to their rare joint appearance on Saturday was a press conference by Ken McCallum, head of Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5, and his US counterpart Christopher Wray, head of the FBI, in London in July 2022.