'Russia using British citizens to further its agenda'

LONDON

British daily the Guardian has published evidence given by a prominent political activist to the U.K. Parliament that Russia was using British citizens, including politicians from both major parties, to “infiltrate” society, further its interests in the country and “go after” opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bill Browder, an American-born British financier and political activist, told parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) that former diplomats, intelligence officials and public relations firms were also involved.

Some of them worked “unwittingly for Russian state interests,” but others “had reason to know exactly what they were doing and for whom.” In both cases, it is not argued that any British laws were broken.

Browder’s evidence was part of the ISC’s two-year-long investigation into Russia’s interference in British politics and society.

The publication of the 50-page report has had a tumultuous journey: the report was ready for release last November, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson refused to publish it until after the December election. In order to be released, the ISC must be reconstituted, a process that is still ongoing due to the fact that committee members have to be vetted first.

Browder said that Russia’s British intermediaries created a “western buffer network” that masked the Russian state’s criminal activities. It used its network in the U.K. to attack Putin’s critics, “enhance Russian propaganda” and “conceal massive money-laundering.”

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Russian president, said Browder’s claims were “totally groundless” and symptomatic of “maniac-style Russophobia.”

Browder told the Guardian: “There are Russian oligarchs who have a much greater impact on the security of this country. What’s most shocking is that the Russian government is indirectly hiring British nationals to assist them in its intelligence operations.”

Browder is the founder of Hermitage Capital Management, which was once the largest foreign investor in Russia. He fell out with Russian authorities after clashing with companies that he says were tied to Putin and senior Russian officials.

He was deported from Russia in 2005 and then convicted in absentia of tax evasion and deliberate bankruptcy. Browder has denied the charges and described them as politically motivated. Russia has issued a series of Interpol arrest warrants against Browder, but Interpol has refused to enforce them under the pretext that they are politically motivated.

In 2009, Browder’s lawyer Sergei Magnitsky died in custody, spurring Browder to lobby Western governments to pass a ‘Magnitsky Act’ that would sanction senior officials involved in human rights abuses. The law was passed in the U.S., and similar laws have since been passed in the U.K. and Europe.