UK spy chief says 'deeply secret intelligence' is being released at an unprecedented rate to stay one step ahead of Putin

• Intelligence is being declassified at an "unprecedented" rate amid Russia's war, the head of GCHQ said.
• "Deeply secret intelligence is being released to make sure the truth is heard," Sir Jeremy Fleming said.

The head of the UK's intelligence agency said spy bodies were releasing "deeply secret intelligence" in an effort "to get ahead of Putin's actions."

Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), said in a Thursday speech that in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK was especially interested in combating Russian information and "making sure that the truth is told well."

He said releasing intelligence has been key to doing that.

"Increasingly, many of those 'truths' come from intelligence. It is already a remarkable feature of this conflict just how much intelligence has been so quickly declassified to get ahead of Putin's actions," he said.

"From the warnings of the war. To the intelligence on false flag operations designed to provide a fake premise to the invasion. And more recently, to the Russian plans to falsely claim Ukrainian use of banned chemical weapons.

"On this and many other subjects, deeply secret intelligence is being released to make sure the truth is heard. At this pace and scale, it really is unprecedented.

"In my view, intelligence is only worth collecting if we use it, so I unreservedly welcome this development."

Fleming did not specify which intelligence agencies he was speaking about, but Western agencies have been releasing massive amounts of information on the conflict.

For example, the UK Ministry of Defense has been publishing daily intelligence updates about the war, and declassified US intelligence this week said Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been getting truthful information from his advisors.