By Tony O’Riley-
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has judged it “credible” that Russia tried to interfere in the Scottish independence referendum and undermine Brexit, the Intelligent and Security Committee has deemed credible.
MPs setting out the Russia report have told Boris Johnson to order an assessment of “potential” Russian meddling in the Brexit referendum. MPs said the government “did not want to know” if there been interference in the 2016 vote – and had “actively avoided looking for evidence”.
The report states that Russia is seemingly fed by paranoia, believing that Western institutions such as NATO and the EU have a far more aggressive posture towards it than they do in reality, presents multiple reasons Russia has always had to target the Uk and undermine its political life.
The comprehensive analysis made much shorter than the detailed information gathered by the reports contributors, states that Russia’s wishes to be seen resurgent ‘great power’ – ‘in particular, dominating the countries of the former USSR , and to ensure that the privileged position of its leadership clique is not damaged’.
Diplomatic Adversary
It highlights the UK-led international response to the Salisbury attack which saw an unprecedented 153 Russian intelligence officers and diplomats expelled from 29 countries and NATO , as one that placed the Uk as a key diplomatic adversary by Putin.
The Inquiry spanning a number of evidence sessions with a broad range of witnesses over the course of eight months, including classified expertise evidence from a number of people outside the expertise committee, admits excluding some important underlying details in order to not to reveal all that is known.
”The clearest requirement for immediate action is for new legislation”, the report states. ”The Intelligence Community must be given the tools it needs and be put in the best possible position if it is to tackle this very capable adversary, and this means a new statutory framework to tackle espionage, the illicit financial dealings of the Russian elite and the ‘enablers’ who support this activity”.
Russia is also said to have sought to employ organised crime groups to supplement its cyber skills, observing that “this comes to the very muddy nexus between business and corruption and state power in Russia”.
GCHQ told the Committee that there is “a quite considerable balance of intelligence now which shows the links between serious and organised crime groups and Russian state activity” evidencing serious and organised crime , connected at high levels of Russian state and Russian intelligence”, in what it described as a “symbiotic relationship”
Cyber Attacks
Russia has carried out malicious cyber activity in order to assert itself aggressively in a number of spheres, including attempting to influence the democratic elections of other countries – the report further states.
Russians are believed to be behind the cyber-enabled ‘hack and leak’ operation to compromise the accounts of members of the French political party En Marche! in the run-up to the 2017 French elections.
Russia has also undertaken cyber pre-positioning activity on other nations’ Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).
The report states that the UK has historically been reticent in attributing cyber attacks – as recently as 2010, this Committee was asked to redact mention
of Russia as a perpetrator of cyber attacks, on diplomatic grounds.