LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said Thursday that Russia had attempted to interfere in its 2019 general election by raising an online scandal over unlawfully acquired confidential documents about a planned free trade agreement with Washington.
FILE PHOTO: A Russian flag is seen on the laptop screen in front of a computer screen displaying the cyber code, in this illustrated image taken on March 2, 2018. REUTERS / Kacper Pempel / Illustration / File Photo
Russia, which has also faced accusations of trying to influence the outcome of the elections in the United States and France, described the accusation as “so confused and contradictory that it is practically impossible to understand.”
British Chancellor Dominic Raab said a government investigation found that Russia repeatedly attempted to intrude on last December’s Conservative Party elections, though the final goal was not immediately released.
“Russian actors almost certainly attempted to interfere in the 2019 general election through online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked government documents,” Raab said in a statement.
“Sensitive government documents related to the UK-United States Free Trade Agreement were unlawfully acquired prior to the 2019 general election and disseminated online via the Reddit social media platform.”
The investigation found that when these documents had little impact, more attempts were made to promote unlawfully obtained pre-election material online, Raab said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a landslide election victory against opposition Labor candidate Jeremy Corbyn.
“While there is no evidence of a broad-spectrum Russian campaign against the general elections, any attempt to interfere with our democratic processes is completely unacceptable,” said Raab. “The government reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures in the future.”
RUSSIA WILL PRESENT ITS RESPONSE
President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB officer, has laughed at similar allegations in the past.
Raab made his comments hours after the parliament’s intelligence and security committee said it would release a delayed report on Russia’s influence on British politics.
A Johnson spokesman said it was “absurd” to suggest that the government had issued the statement to detract from that report.
Relations between London and Moscow peaked in the post-Cold War period in 2018 when Britain blamed Moscow for trying to kill former double agent Sergei Skripal with a nerve agent developed by the Soviets on British soil. Russia denied it was the fault.
US intelligence believes Russia also tried to intervene in the 2016 presidential election to help eventual winner Donald Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron has scolded Russia for spreading false news about him during the 2017 election.
Report by Guy Faulconbridge; additional reports by Andrew Osborn and Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber in Moscow, edited by Stephen Addison, Timothy Heritage, William Maclean
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