Johnson attended fundraiser with Russian linked donor as Russia

[Kid Berwyn]

1. BREXIT Boris

Did Russia Influence Brexit?

Center for Strategic and International Studies, July 21, 2020
Contributor: Rachel Ellehuus

According to the UK Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, the UK government does not know and—incredibly—did not try to find out.

This was the question at the heart of the long-awaited “Russia Report,” the 9-month delayed, 55-page assessment of Russia’s malign interference in UK politics. Produced by an independent committee of nine members of parliament from several political parties, including the ruling Conservatives, the report became highly controversial because Boris Johnson’s government tried to block its publication.

The report is damning. It says that the government, along with its intelligence and security services, “underestimated the response required to the Russian threat and are still playing catch up.” It asserts that “Russian influence in the UK is the new normal […] the UK is clearly a target for Russian disinformation.”

If Russia did have a role in tipping the 2016 Brexit referendum, the report asserts that it was not through direct involvement in the voting process, which, in the United Kingdom, is done entirely with paper and considered very hard to corrupt.

But the report leaves open the possibility that Moscow-based information operations, especially through social media and Russian state-funded broadcasters like Sputnik and RT—and backed up by targeted support to influential voices within UK politics—may well have been a significant factor.

Continues…

https://www.csis.org/blogs/brexit-bits-bobs-and-blogs/did-russia-influence-brexit

Disinformation is a dish best served weaponized.