Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Russian trolls
UUP candidate ignoring calls to step aside ‘Kremlin bots interfering in election’s marginal seats’ Tories ‘cover up’ report on Putin’s Brexit meddling
AN Ulster Unionist candidate standing in South Belfast will face down calls for him to step aside.
Michael Henderson said he would not be deterred by negativity from other unionists critical of his party’s decision to run.
The UUP has already backed down in North Belfast to give DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds a better chance of fending off a challenge from Sinn Fein.
In return the DUP is not challenging the UUP in Fermanagh and South Tyrone.
Mr Henderson said: “There has been some negative comments on Facebook and social media but you’d expect that as well.
“But there has been positives as well. I am here to give people a choice and hope people will accept that choice.”
Police are investigating alleged paramilitary threats made to the Ulster Unionist Party in the wake of leader Steve Aiken’s initial pledge.
A KEY witness who contributed to the intelligence report on Russia’s Brexit meddling claims Moscow is “at war with the West” and secretly trying to “wreck British politics”.
The expert told the Mirror the Kremlin has “weaponised” Brexit and its trolls are interfering in the general election in marginal seats.
He submitted crucial evidence to the Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee’s report into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The report’s publication has controversially been delayed, amid allegations of a Tory cover-up. Campaigners say voters should see the report ahead of the general election on December 12.
Our source claims Vladimir Putin deployed online trolls to deepen political strife in the UK.
He said: “This is done by trolls and via social and other media steering the issues being debates.
“Experience indicates that those in marginal seats are most likely to be singled out and targeted. People should beware of emotionally charged campaign pitches.”
The source said Putin’s aim is to discredit Western democracy.
He said: “The Kremlin’s tactics in this war, which is already being waged against us, is to exploit and interfere in order to exacerbate the level of emotional attacks against each other by each of the UK political parties, to wreck UK politics as far as possible.”
The ISC report was finished in March, but has yet to be published.
ISC chairman Dominic Grieve said the report is relevant to voters. Former US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has branded the delay “shameful”. On a visit to the UK, she said yesterday: “I find it inexplicable that your government will not release a government report about Russian influence. “Every person deserves to see that report before your election. Russia is determined to try to shape the politics of Western democracies.” Human Rights campaigner Bill Browder, who also gave evidence to the ISC, said he had been told the report would be released days before Parliament dissolved ahead of the general election He said: “I was bracing myself. But all of a sudden it has been hushed up.”
Bruce Jones, Russia expert and former international election observer in the former Soviet Union, told the Mirror: “In the current election, IT bots and algorithms will be able to identify susceptible voters in marginal and other constituencies in order for them to be targeted by social media and other forms of persuasion and campaigning.
“News services such as Sputnik, Russia Today and plus other pirate websites have ongoing campaigns targeting the UK public.”
Boris Johnson’s spokesman said: “There is a process that these reports go through. That process hadn’t completed by the time Parliament was dissolved.”