'Russia Report' expected to show attempted interference in Scottish referendum
A long-awaited report on alleged Russian interference in British democracy to be published on Tuesday will show how the Eastern European country tried to influence the Scottish Independence Referendum in 2014, ITV News understands.
However, there was no obvious attempt by Russia to do similar during the 2016 Brexit referendum.
The report's publication comes at a time when relations with Moscow are already under severe strain following claims Russian intelligence-linked hackers tried to steal details of research into coronavirus vaccines.
ITV News Political Correspondent Paul Brand explains what we can expect
The Telegraph has reported the probe found "credible open-source commentary that Russia undertook to influence the campaign on Scottish independence".
The paper said the report by MPs and peers described the Kremlin’s role in the vote that could have split the UK as "the first post-Soviet interference in a Western democratic election".
The publication of the report has been delayed by Boris Johnson’s decision to call a general election and the need to re-establish Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee.
The document, which was prepared by the committee’s members in the previous Parliament, will emerge just days after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab claimed it was “almost certain” that Russia had tried to interfere in the 2019 election.
Mr Raab said “Russian actors” had tried to influence the contest by “amplifying” stolen government papers online.
The documents – relating to US-UK trade talks – were picked up by then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn who said they were evidence the Conservatives were preparing to open up the NHS to US pharmaceutical companies.
The UK, US and Canada have also claimed that Russian intelligence-linked hackers tried to steal details of research into coronavirus vaccines.
Russia’s ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin dismissed the accusations in a BBC interview.
He said his country had no interest in interfering in British domestic politics.
“I do not see any point in using this subject as a matter of interference,” he said.
“We do not interfere at all. We do not see any point in interference because for us, whether it will be (the) Conservative Party or Labour’s party at the head of this country, we will try to settle relations and to establish better relations than now.”
Asked about the alleged attempts to steal details of coronavirus research, Mr Kelin said: “I don’t believe in this story at all, there is no sense in it.”
Relations between the UK and Russia have been under severe strain since the Salisbury Novichok poisoning in 2018, which left former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in hospital and led to the death of Dawn Sturgess.
The incident resulted in Russian diplomats being expelled from Britain by then prime minister Theresa May.