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Russian Influence in Britain is 'New Normal,' Intelligence Committee Warns

Jamie Dettmer

   LONDON - A long-awaited House of Commons report laying bare
   Kremlin-sponsored bids to influence the outcomes of British elections
   and other votes, and to meddle in the workings of British democracy
   generally, was released Tuesday, with lawmakers on the intelligence and
   security committee saying Russia sought to break up the United Kingdom
   by attempting to "influence" the 2014 Scottish independence vote.
   The nine-member cross-party committee, which scrutinizes the work of
   Britain's spy agencies, dubbed the meddling in the referendum, in which
   the Scots opted by a small but healthy margin to remain tied to
   Britain, as the first time the Kremlin had sought to shape a vote in
   western Europe since the end of Soviet Communism.
   Committee member Stewart Hosie said, "The UK is one of Russia's top
   intelligence targets." He added that Russia had weaponized information
   and disinformation. "Russia's cyber capability is matter of grave
   concern and poses an immediate threat to security," he added.
   Russian political interference comes in a variety of forms, the panel
   said, including promoting disinformation to support or undermine a
   particular side. "Russian influence in the UK is the new normal," the
   report found. The panel noted the Kremlin has been disseminating fake
   news and controversial voices via state-backed news outlets like RT and
   Sputnik, and it has been using automated bot and troll accounts on
   social media sites Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
   The panel, which heard testimony from senior officials from the
   country's spy agencies MI6, MI5 and GCHQ, as well as other expert
   witnesses, and was provided with secret intelligence material,
   expressed alarm about Russia-linked donations to Britain's political
   parties and issued a caution about the influence of Russian money on
   the City of London.
   Britain's politicians, businesses people, lawyers, real estate agents,
   accountants and bankers were all warned in the report against becoming
   too involved with Kremlin-linked oligarchs. The committee criticized
   British "enablers and fixers," including members of Britain's House of
   Lords, who have facilitated the flow of Russian money into Britain over
   the past decade and enriched themselves while turning London into a
   "laundromat" for Russian cash.
   "The arrival of Russian money resulted in a growth industry of enablers
   -- individuals and organizations who manage and lobby for the Russian
   elite in the UK. Lawyers, accountants, estate agents and PR
   professionals have played a role, wittingly or unwittingly, in the
   extension of Russian influence which is often linked to promoting the
   nefarious interests of the Russian state," the committee members said
   in their report.

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