US intelligence 'not seen much' of Russia attempting to interfere in UK elections

The United States intelligence community has “not seen much activity” connected to Russian interference in the British general election, the leader of an oversight committee told journalists on Tuesday.

Mark Warner, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he had been “closely monitoring” the British elections which he described as “the next big test of the state of play” in terms of democratic integrity, as reported by the Daily Telegraph.

“Russia does not like the fact that the U.K. has been as stalwart as they have been in terms of defense on Ukraine,” said Warner, adding that Russian president Vladimir Putin would like to “lessen the British or the Americans’ resolve for supporting Ukraine.”

Voters across the United Kingdom will head to polling stations on 4 July to elect the 650 Members of Parliament who sit in the House of Commons. Most polls predict a majority for the opposition Labour Party which has pledged to continue supporting Ukraine.

Today, we honour those who gave their lives so we could live in freedom.

Too many are still paying the ultimate price today.

I told President @ZelenskyyUa that if there is a change of government, there will be no change in Britain’s support for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/jLtdQVgqAA

— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) June 6, 2024

Warner warned that the Kremlin was committed to undermining democracies globally through its proxies. “The chances are, as we saw in the past, this activity ramps up dramatically the closer it gets to the election,” he added.

Last year the British government summoned the Russian ambassador over the activities of a hacking group which it outed as accountable to Center 18 of the Russian Federal Security Service. It accused the group of being behind a “sustained but unsuccessful” campaign of hack-and-leak operations designed to undermine democratic institutions and issued sanctions against two men connected to the campaign.

During the British general election in 2019, then leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn brandished trade documents stolen from the personal inbox of a British minister by Russian hackers. The Labour Party subsequently condemned the Russian interference, although Corbyn — who has since been suspended from the party — refuted that the trade documents were provided by Russia.

The Russian government has denied allegations of attempting to interfere in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in the United States and France.

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