Russians tried to swing UK election with US trade papers used by Corbyn
Russian actors attempted to interfere in the 2019 UK Election by disseminating a leaked confidential document later released by the Labour party, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab.
Raab released a statement today, confirming it is “almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election through the online amplification” of confidential UK-US trade negotiation documents.
It comes as it was revealed this afternoon that Kremlin-linked cyber criminals have been allegedly hacking universities and organisations developing coronavirus vaccines in an attempt to steal sensitive information.
The hacking group known as APT29 – also known as Cozy Bear and The Dukes – has allegedly been trying to steal information across the globe from vaccine trials.
There has not been any suggestion that the actors involved in the US trade document saga are linked to the Russian state, however there is an active criminal investigation into the leak of the report.
The government is not pinning blame on Russian actors for the release of the US trade documents, but only for amplifying their existence online.
The documents were uploaded to Reddit months prior to the election, before Russian hackers allegedly disseminated them during the election campaign period.
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Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn held a press conference on 27 November to widely release the documents, which he said showed the “NHS was for sale” in UK-US trade negotiations.
The claim was widely disputed, with trade experts saying the classified documents showed a routine overview of informal trade negotiations.
Raab said the UK would “continue to call out and respond to malign activity, including any attempts to interfere in our democratic processes”.
“Whilst there is no evidence of a broad spectrum Russian campaign against the General Election, any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable,” he said.
“It is, and will always be, an absolute priority to protect our democracy and elections.”
Serious questions will now be asked of Labour and where they got the documents from.
While there were on Reddit for anyone to find, the new revelation that Russian hackers passed around the documents to be seen will draw questions as to whether they were directly sent to Labour.
A spokesperson for the Labour Party said: “We condemn any attempt by Russia, or any foreign power, to interfere in our country’s democratic processes.
“Labour stands ready to work cross-party to protect our nation’s security. That includes in our response to the publication of the long-awaited report by the Intelligence Security Committee on the Russian threat to the UK.”
It comes as it was announced by Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee that it would release its long-awaited report into Russian interference in UK politics next week.
The committee elected MP Julian Lewis as its chair last night, after he refused to vote for Downing Street’s candidate Chris Grayling.
Lewis promptly had the Tory party whip removed for the rebellion.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said any suggestion that the release of the two Russia hacking stories today was to overshadow the release of a potentially embarrassing report was “nonsense”.
He said that the timing of the NCSC announcement was agreed with two other countries, the US and Canada, while news of the trade document leak could not be announced until the Intelligence and Security Committee had been formed.