Putin has declared war on British democracy

Putin
Putin

The UK has been one of the key leaders in arming Ukraine in its fight against Russia, and Moscow is ready for payback.

Sergey Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service has openly stated “Great Britain has for many centuries been and still remains a dangerous geopolitical adversary” and deploys every weapon in his arsenal to exploit political and racial polarisation in Britain.

But with the UK scheduled to hold elections on July 4, as has been warned only today, Moscow will not miss an opportunity to destabilise the country as profoundly as possible. Britain must be prepared.

And not just the Britain. According to intelligence reports, Russia plans to interfere in political processes during the EU elections in June and the US elections in November. Western intelligence agencies have already warned that Moscow is plotting acts of sabotage across Europe. In May, Anne Keast-Butler, the director of GCHQ, earlier warned that Russia is preparing cyberattacks, and worse, against the UK.

It is in cyber and information operations that Moscow can arguably be most deadly, aiming to exploit hot-button domestic issues and weaken support for Ukraine.

Russia has a long history of meddling in UK affairs. The British parliament’s intelligence and security committee stated that Russia interfered in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. This September marks the 10th anniversary. It is yet to be seen if there will be a second after the leader of Scotland, First Minister Humza Yousaf, resigned in April. Nevertheless, Scottish independence aspirations are still alive and ripe for Russia’s manipulation. Russian government-run RT even has a subsection on its website titled, “Scotland referendum.”

Moscow is also adept at exploiting culture wars and portraying the Britain as an imperialistic, colonial, and racist country.

Russian media amplifies how the UK’s history of colonialism has also come back to light in a conflict with the British Commonwealth, demanding apologies, the return of exported goods, and reparations. It never misses an opportunity to amplify how UK museums are increasingly under pressure to return artifacts from the colonial era to their countries of origin. Russia’s state-run Sputnik, for example, even offers hashtags related to the “stolen artifacts”.

Russia has also criticised the UK’s Commonwealth institutions. RT alleges that, through Commonwealth institutions and exploitative business practices, the British have contributed to the collapse of Africa’s state-owned companies. In times of attacks on the Royal Family, Moscow has been pushing narratives accusing London of keeping Africa down.

Russia also criticised UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron for having a “colonialist mindset” in India. In response to the ethnic clashes in Manipur, Cameron pushed for religious freedom and urged India to “lift people out of poverty.”

Winston Churchill’s legacy is another hot-button topic Russia likes to exploit. The cult of personality surrounding Churchill as the “greatest Briton,” is facing scrutiny as some UK Britons call him a white supremacist leading an empire ‘worse than the Nazis’. In times when Russia wants to rewrite WWII history, Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov claimed, “the West’s view of Russia is still predominantly clinging to Winston Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ speech.”

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden correctly noted that “online is the new frontline.” Russia does not need tanks and jets to undermine the UK. Sowing chaos via culture wars, protests in British universities and stoking divisions will do the job.

As such, the UK needs to put the Kremlin on the defensive in the information space and aggressively counter Russian narratives. Moscow is interfering with democratic institutions, and it is time for Britain to take action. Exposing Putin’s propaganda is a good first step, as is the use of sanctions to name and shame individuals involved in Russian and information warfare.

But more needs to be done. London should launch offensive information operations in Moscow’s sphere of influence so its information warriors spend time, energy, and resources defending Russia rather than attacking. The UK has powerful information warfare capabilities and understands Moscow’s thinking. The time to act is now.


Ivana Stradner is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.