THE long-awaiting report on Russian meddling in British politics has been published this morning.
The investigation by the Intelligence and Security Committee, which Boris Johnson blocked from publication before the General Election, was expected to claim the Scottish independence referendum was targeted by Russians with links to the Kremlin’s security services.
The report does refer to the 2014 referendum, but is heavily redacted.
READ MORE: Russian interference in Scottish independence referendum to be confirmed
It reads: “There has been credible open source commentary suggesting that Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014.
“However, at the time ***. It appears that *** what some commentators have described as potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process. We note that – almost five years on – ***.”
They add: "For example, it was widely reported shortly after the referendum that Russian election observers had suggested that there were irregularities in the conduct of the vote, and this position was widely pushed by Russian state media.
"We understand that HMG viewed this as being primarily aimed at discrediting the UK in the eyes of a domestic Russian audience."
The committee’s investigation also found that British government and intelligence failed to prepare or conduct a proper assessment of Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 Brexit vote.
The 50-page document says ministers “has not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK processes”.
The committee said it had not been provided with a post-referendum assessment of Russian interference, in “stark contrast” to US handling of similar allegations.
They say there, “an intelligence community assessment was produced within two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public”.
The Intelligence and Security Committee, which scrutinises the work of the UK’s spy agencies, said they could therefore not definitively conclude whether the Kremlin had interfered in the 2016 EU referendum as no effort had been made to find out.
Members say when they asked for written evidence from M15, the agency “initially provided just six lines of text”.
The committee concluded no single UK Government organisation was taking on the “hot potato” of “defending the UK’s democratic processes”.
They wrote: “It has been surprisingly difficult to establish who has responsibility for what.”
Speaking after the publication this morning, committee member SNP MP Stewart Hosie said: “"We were concerned to find out there is no clear coordination of the numerous organisations across the UK intelligence community who are working on this issue.”
He added: "The UK Government have actively avoided seeking evidence as to whether Russia interfered"
The MP warned there is an “all-encompassing security threat” posed by Russia.
The report was completed in October but was sat on by the Prime Minister, and could not be released until Downing Street had nominated Tory members for the committee after the election.
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