The Cold War was characterised by repeated attempts by East and West to steal the others’ industrial and military secrets. Mr McCallum said logistics firms, and those with international footprints, are most at risk.

In recent months, the Kremlin has re-energised such covert activity through the use of criminal gangs and is thought to be behind a number of planned or actual attacks across Europe.

In May, the Polish authorities arrested an alleged Russian spy ring planning attacks on commercial premises in the country.

Donald Tusk, the prime minister, said at the time: “We currently have nine suspects detained and indicted, who have been directly implicated in the name of Russian [intelligence] services in acts of sabotage in Poland.”

Earlier this year, Thomas Haldenwang, the head of German domestic intelligence, warned that “we assess the risk of state-controlled acts of sabotage [by Russia] to be significantly increased”.

In the UK, seven people were charged over a Russia-linked arson attack on a Ukrainian business at an industrial unit in Leyton, east London, on March 20. 

Two were charged under the National Security Act 2023 – the first case to involve alleged offences under the new legislation.