It is vital we restore the trust obliterated by Russia Report

MPS Alyn Smith and Stewart Mcdonald examine the impact of the probe into interference by Putin’s government

THIS week’s long-awaited Russia report of the Intelligence and Security Committee of the House may not have contained any surprises for those with a longterm interest in the malign influence that the Putin regime has exerted in our public life, but it is nonetheless a vital economic and political history of these islands over the past 30 years.

First, despite heavy trails to the contrary, it was emphatically not about Scotland. Russia is not the only state active in our domestic politics, but the lessons of the report apply to all.

“The UK welcomed Russian money, and few questions – if any – were asked about the provenance of this considerable wealth. It appears that the UK Government at the time held the belief (more perhaps in hope than expectation) that developing links with major Russian companies would promote good governance by encouraging ethical and transparent practices, and the adoption of a law-based commercial environment.”

Journalists like Edward Lucas and Luke Harding have long documented the incredible scramble to accommodate the continuing flood of roubles that has washed through the City of London beginning in the mid-1990s: this is the first time we have seen an acknowledgement of this so close to Government.

It could be argued that it was a great example of trickle-down economics in action as these “Lawyers, accountants, estate agents and PR professionals… played a role, wittingly or unwittingly, in the extension of Russian influence which is often linked to promoting the nefarious interests of the Russian state”.

Yet, despite the warning signs emerging with the murder of Alexander Litvenenko in 2006, the New Labour government of Tony

Blair didn’t want to stop the “London laundromat” from spinning.

Incredibly, the UK Intelligence services only really started to dedicate an increased allocation of resources into countering the Russian threat in 2013/14, by which time the horse had not so much bolted as bought the stables and surrounding farms, acquired a UK passport and started sending its children to the local public school.

We have both spoken about this matter extensively in the past, and do not shy away from the fact that Russia has attempted to use disinformation and influence tactics it has used across the Western world to hijack the energy and optimism of the pro-independence campaign for its own malign ends – even as the Putin regime refused to allow the same democratic freedoms to activists within its own borders.

This gets to the nub of the issue: Russian influence has long been the “new normal” in public life across these islands, and it is incumbent on each of us to be unflinching in how we confront it.

In its response to the report shortly after it was published – they have had almost 10 months to prepare, after all – the UK Government claimed it had seen no evidence to suggest there had been successful interference in the 2016 Brexit Referendum, a position it went on to further defend in the media over the course of the day. This is flat garbage and a dereliction of duty to our democracy.

To believe it, one would have to accept that proven and repeated Russian interference, so well documented in the 2019 UK General Election, 2016 US presidential election and 2017 French presidential election, yet skipped an electoral event in the summer of 2016.

This is a UK Government, and a political system, awash with dirty money and in denial.

This Government, which is doing so much to talk up its “take back control” has decided not to lift a finger to address the reality – highlighted in the report – that “a number of Members of the House of Lords have business interests linked to Russia, or work directly for major

Russian companies linked to the Russian state” and seems content to let many of these members sit on its own benches in perpetuity.

Similarly, it continues to accept large sums of money from figures linked to the Putin regime – some

£3.5 million over the past decade, including the wife of Putin’s former finance minister, Lybov Chernukin, who reportedly paid £90,000 for a game of tennis with the Prime Minister earlier this year.

The UK Government is rightly praised for its swift and firm reaction to the Salisbury poisoning, but the report goes on to note that “coherent and sustained strategy is needed in order to build on this success, and to make sure these lessons are internalised for similar events, be they targeted towards the UK or its allies”.

In the final chapter of his 2018 book Moneyland, Oliver Bullough seeks to address the legacy of these 30 years of excess and wilful ignorance.

He concludes that “without trust, liberal democracy cannot function”. It is, therefore, vital that we use the publication of the Russia Report to be brutally honest with ourselves about how we go about restoring that trust in our political and economic system. Only a full judge-led public inquiry will do that.

Russian influence has long been the ‘new normal’ in public life across these islands