Russian 'actors' sought to interfere in UK general election, says Dominic Raab

WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Russian “actors” sought to interfere in last year’s General Election in Britain by pushing on the internet leaked reports on UK-US trade talks, the Foreign Office said today.

The bombshell accusation was made this afternoon by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

A criminal investigation has been launched into the acquisition of the documents.

They are said to have been obtained illicitly.

Mr Raab told the Commons in a written statement: “On the basis of extensive analysis, the Government has concluded that it is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents.

“Sensitive Government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement were illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit.

“When these gained no traction, further attempts were made to promote the illicitly acquired material online in the run up to the General Election.”

The Cabinet minister said there was no evidence of a “broad spectrum Russian campaign” against the General Election and nor did he say the Russian state was involved.

But he added: “Any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable. It is, and will always be, an absolute priority to protect our democracy and elections.

“There is an ongoing criminal investigation and it would be inappropriate for us to say anything further at this point.

“The Government reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures in the future.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT