The ‘almost certain’ Russians tried to interfere in the 2019 British elections – Raab

The Russians almost certainly attempted to interfere with the 2019 UK general election through illicitly acquired documents, the government said.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said any attempt to intrude on UK democracy was “completely unacceptable”.

The documents, on trade debates between the United Kingdom and the United States, appeared online and were used by Labor in the 2019 campaign.

A long overdue report on allegations of increased Russian interference in UK democracy will be released next week.

This is the first time that the government has recognized with such certainty that the Russians interfered in the UK’s democratic processes.

Labor said they condemned “any attempt by Russia, or any foreign power, to interfere in our country’s democratic processes” and pledged to work to protect the security of the nation.

A Downing Street spokesman dismissed the “pointless” suggestions that the timing of the Raab statement was aimed at preventing the publication of the Russia report by the intelligence and security committee.

In the 2019 election, Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn said the documents showed that conservatives planned to include the NHS in a future trade deal, somewhat denied by the government.

The government launched an investigation into how the documents came into the public domain, with the help of the National Center for Cyber ​​Security.

The announcement comes as a group of national security services warns that Russian hackers are targeting organizations trying to develop a coronavirus vaccine.

‘No evidence’

In a written statement, Raab said the documents were “unlawfully acquired prior to the 2019 general election and released online through the Reddit social media platform.”

“When these failed to gain traction, more attempts were made to promote the material illegally acquired online in the run-up to the general election.”

The foreign secretary goes on to say that “there is no evidence of a broad-spectrum Russian campaign against the general election,” but that “any attempt to interfere with our democratic processes is completely unacceptable.”

A criminal investigation is ongoing into how the documents were acquired.

The forum’s website, Reddit, said the unpublished documents had been uploaded as “part of a campaign that was reported to have originated in Russia.”

He suspended 61 accounts showing a “pattern of coordination”.

Raab’s statement is different from the report by the Intelligence and Security Committee on Russian interference, to be released next week.

BBC security correspondent Gordon Corera said the committee’s report looked at Russian activity from traditional espionage to subversion, with a particular focus on possible interference in the 2016 EU referendum and the general elections in 2017.

In addition to cyber espionage and social media campaigns, the report also examined Russian influence through money.

The delay in publication has led to speculation that the report contains embarrassing details for conservatives, specifically in relation to Russian party donors.

However, Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg insisted that the robbery was due to several committee members leaving Parliament and the need to “ensure that the right people can be appointed with the right level of experience and responsibility.”