DISINFO: The British Parliament’s “Russia Report” is not based on any investigation and provides no evidence

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attempting to depict accusations of Russian meddling in Western democratic processes as factually unfounded and driven by “Russophobia”. The article repeats the disinformation message often spread by pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Russia never tried to influence British electoral processes, such as the 2016 Brexit referendum or the British 2017 and 2019 elections. The British Parliament Intelligence and Security Committee’s (ISC) Russia Report describes and assesses the threats posed by Russia to the UK, and in particular to the UK’s democratic processes, as well as the actions that the UK intelligence community is taking to counter these threats. The report covers three aspects of the Russian threat to the UK: 1) hostile cyber-operations against the UK; 2) disinformation and political influence operations targeted on the UK; 3) Connections of Russsian oligarchs with sectors of the British establishment and the financing of UK political parties, charities, academic and cultural institutions by such oligarchs. The report is not motivated by “Russophobia” induced by US democrats , as the article claims, but expresses a genuine and evidence-based concern of many UK officials about the threats posed by Russian hostile influence operations targeted on the UK. Moreover, it is not true – as the article claims – that the report is not based on any investigation and that it provides no evidence. The report is based on considerable written and oral evidence from UK government and intelligence community sources. It also quotes open source investigations of Russian operations aimed at influencing UK electoral processes, including the 2016 EU referendum. For further background on Russian interference in various electoral processes in Europe read here. Read our article on Russian election meddling in EU countries and in the US here. For more information on Russia's interference in Western democratic processes, see the EUvsDisinfo Elections page. Read a previous case claiming that Russia has not interfered in British elections nor in the elections of any country.