Russia report: Russian influence in UK politics is ‘new normal’
Russian influence in UK politics has been described as the “new normal” in Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC)’s long-awaited Russia report.
The report said that successive governments “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 report also concluded that there could have been attempts by the Kremlin to influence the 2016 Brexit referendum and 2014 Scottish independence referendum, but that the “actual impact of such attempts on the result itself would be difficult”.
Labour MP Kevan Jones said at a press briefing that the committee was not able to get evidence of Russian interference in the referendum, because the government did not carry out assessments at the time.
The report added that the government “was slow to recognise the existence of the threat” and “the government did not take action to protect the UK’s process in 2016” before the EU referendum.
The committee said the government should have made an assessment of potential threats after seeing 2014 cyber attacks on the Democratic party in the US.
The report said that the UK harboured many “Russians with very close links to Putin who are well integrated into the UK business, political and social scene”.
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It added: “It is not just the oligarchs either – the arrival of Russian money has resulted in a growth industry of ‘enablers’: lawyers, accountants and estate agents have all played a role, wittingly or unwittingly, and formed a ‘buffer’ of Westerners who are de facto agents of the Russian state.”
The ISC called for there to be an inquiry into potential interference in the Brexit referendum, which the government rejected in a response to the report.
The statement read: “We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum.
“The intelligence and security agencies produce and contribute to regular assessments of the threat posed by hostile state activity, including around potential interference in UK democratic processes.”
The report comes after it was revealed by foreign secretary Dominic Raab on Thursday that “Russian actors” tried to influence the 2019 General Election by “amplifying” a leaked confidential trade document later released by Jeremy Corbyn during the campaign.
It was also revealed on the same day that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is “95 per cent certain” Kremlin-backed hackers have been trying to steal secrets from Covid-19 vaccine trials across the world.
The new report was compiled by former ISC chair Dominic Grieve last year and was given to Downing Street in October to approve.
Speculation has been widespread that Boris Johnson delayed the release, because of potentially damaging claims about Russian Tory donors.
Other media outlets have also speculated that it was held up as Johnson’s chief aide Dominic Cummings did not want to give Grieve – a prominent Remainer – a platform last year.
It’s release comes less than a week after Julian Lewis launched a mini-coup to win the chair of the committee from Boris Johnson’s handpicked candidate Chris Grayling.
Lewis promptly had the Tory party whip removed for colluding with Labour and SNP MPs to win the position.