Miffed UK house panel pulls up Govt for slow response to Russian meddling in internal matters

@prashanthamine

Mumbai: While the whole world is now focused on the hegemonistic actions of China in recent times, the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of the British parliament in its report submitted on July 21 has pulled up the British Government for taking “its eyes off the ball on Russia”, and finds that they (government and intelligence agencies) underestimated the response required to the Russian threat and are still playing “catch up”. The ISC of the British parliament had investigated the allegations of Russian’s allegedly tried to influence the outcome of the United Kingdom’s (UKs) Brexit vote from the European Union (EU) in 2016.

What is worse the committee former chair, Dominic Grieve QC who prepared the report later in a press notice issued had to express regret that the committee report was not published last November, ahead of the General Elections. So much so that the committee in a damning indictment of the government did not hesitate in coining a new name’s for London as “Laundromat” and “Londongrad” (akin to Russian city of Leningrad)!

The committee took serious note of the Russian interference in the internal matters of the United Kingdom beginning with the death of Alexander Litvinenko, a former FSB (KGB) agent who had defected to the UK, in October of 2006. Litvinenko was poisoned to death with radioactive substance Polonium-210.

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After the 2016 Brexit vote, the then British Prime Minister David Cameroon sarcastically suggested that the “Russians might be happy” with a positive Brexit vote. The official “Remain” campaign had accused the Kremlin of secretly backing a positive Brexit vote from the EU.

It further argues that in the case of the EU referendum the government was slow to recognize the existence of the threat – only understanding it after the ‘hack and leak’ operation against the Democratic National Committee (DNC), when it should have been seen as early as 2014. As a result the government did not take action to protect the UK’s process in 2016”.  

The UK was only stirred into action after the US alerted it to such an attempt. It is altogether a different matter that attempts at Russian interference in the US Presidential elections of 2016 were dismissed by the Donald Trump campaign team later on.

However, the tipping point came after yet another former Russian military officer and double agent for the UK’s Intelligence Agencies, Sergi Skripal and his daughter Yulia Skripal were poisoned using Novichok, a nerve agent on March 4, 2018. The two were found unconscious on a bench outside their home in Salisbury. The bottle used in the crime was later found in a litter bin nearby.

Both Sergi and his daughter somehow miraculously survived the murder attempt. The incident and the investigations later led to expulsion of 153 Russian diplomats from 29 countries and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) following the use of chemical weapons on UK soil in the Salisbury attack. Several GRU agents (Russian spies) were later exposed.

Making its displeasure known, the committee in its report remarked “Russian influence in the UK is the new normal”. It also slammed successive governments of welcoming the “oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘Laundromat’ and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures. This has led to a growth industry of ‘enablers’ including lawyers, accountants, and estate agents who are – wittingly – de-facto agents of the Russian state”.

To make matters worse, the ISC notes “that a large number of Members of the House of Lords have  business interests linked to Russia, or work directly for major Russian companies linked to the Russian state – these relationships should be carefully scrutinized, given the potential for the Russian state to exploit them”.

The ISC notes that “Russia is a highly capable cyber actor, employing organised crime groups to supplement its cyber skills. Russia carries out malicious cyber activity in order to assert itself aggressively – for example, attempting to interfere in other countries elections”. It further adds, “Given the immediate threat this poses to our national security, we are concerned that there is no clear coordination of the numerous organisations across the UK intelligence community”.

“Russia’s promotion of disinformation and attempts at political influence overseas – whether through the use of social media, hack and leak operations, or its state-owned traditional media – have been widely reported”, states the ISC. It further remarked that “the defence of the democratic processes of the UK appeared something of a ‘hot-potato’, with no one organisation considering itself in the lead, or apparently willing to conduct an assessment of such interference. This must change.”