Russia 'hired network of Britons to go after enemies of Putin'
Source: The Guardian
Russia 'hired network of Britons to go after enemies of Putin'
Exclusive: MPs who drew up Russia report suppressed by PM were told of ‘infiltration’
Luke Harding and Dan Sabbagh
Mon 9 Mar 2020 13.49 GMT
Last modified on Mon 9 Mar 2020 19.20 GMT
Russia has been accused of hiring a network of British politicians and consultants to help advance its criminal interests and to “go after” Vladimir Putin’s enemies in London, MPs who drew up the Russia report suppressed by Boris Johnson were told.
In secret evidence submitted to parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC), the campaigner and financier Bill Browder claimed Moscow had been able to “infiltrate” UK society by using well-paid British intermediaries.
Some had “reason to know exactly what they are doing and for whom”, Browder told the committee. Others “work unwittingly for Russian state interests”, he said.
The alleged intermediaries include politicians from both Labour and the Conservative parties, former intelligence officers and diplomats, and leading public relations firms. Collectively, they form what Browder calls a “western buffer network”.
There is no suggestion in Browder’s testimony that British citizens broke the law.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/09/russia-network-britons-enemies-vladimir-putin-report