The British Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee released a 50-paged report, which is popularly being referred to as the “Russia Report”. The statement by the committee was completed and finalised last year in March. However, its publication was allegedly delayed by Boris Johnson, owing to the upcoming elections at the time. Consequently, it was only published on Tuesday. Primarily, the report suggests that the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (US), and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) were being targeted by Russian intelligence. The report warns of several threats from Russia, including that of espionage, interference in election and fraud and money laundering. Further, the report suggests that there continues to exist a threat of similar meddling by foreign actors, such as Russia, China, and Iran.
However, rather than focussing on Russian interference in Britain’s internal affairs and politics, the report criticised the UK government for failing to recognise Russia’s meddling as a threat. Labour Party MP, Kevan Jones, said “The outrage isn’t if there is interference … The outrage is no one wanted to know if there was interference.” The report said that the UK was evidently being targeted, and referred to the issue as a “hot potato” that the UK government failed to take cognisance of. The document, however, does not clarify whether the overlooking of Russian meddling in British affairs was deliberate, or merely an act of negligence.
The report reads: “The written evidence provided to us appeared to suggest that Her Majesty’s Government had not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic process or any activity that has had a material impact on an election, for example influencing results.” The report also concluded that Russian interference in the British affairs “is the new normal” and, “successive governments have welcomed the oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London “laundromat”, and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures.”
The main issue that was raised was of Russian interference in the 2016 European Union Referendum that led to the UK’s departure from the bloc. In the report, Christopher Steele, a former spy for the MI6, blamed Boris Johnson, who, during his tenure as the foreign secretary, “threw a blanket” over suspicions of Russian funding and support for Brexit.
The report further criticised the British government for failing to provide a “post-referendum assessment” of Russia’s meddling during the voting. The document compared this to US’s assessment of similar interference by Russia during the 2016 Presidential elections, wherein the “assessment” was provided within two months of the election. According to the report, such an assessment is essential to “reassure voters about the integrity of elections” and would help predict “future attacks by Russia on British democracy.”
In response to this, representatives of the British government said that no such assessment, which would attract doubts on the validity of the EU referendum results, would be conducted. Instead, Downing Street said that there are talks of passing new security legislation that would now require foreign actors in the UK to register with British authorities. However, critics of the Johnson government are concerned about the laws being superficial and not successfully curbing the “growing threat” to the British democratic process.
Russia Report Criticises British Government for Ignoring Evidence of Russian Interference
The report was completed in March 2019 but was only published this Tuesday.
July 22, 2020
Source: Foreign Policy