The head of Britain’s Security Service has publicly backed the prime minister’s assertion that Moscow sought to influence the outcome of the vote to leave the European Union. Ken McCallum, Director General of MI5, said on Tuesday that Russia did attempt to interfere in the 2016 referendum, The Guardian reports. He stressed, however, that there was a significant gap between what Russia may have tried to do and what actually resulted.
Backing for the prime minister
Mr McCallum said he fully agrees with remarks made by Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Sunday and Monday, when he raised the issue of attempted Russian interference a decade ago.
Mr Burnham subsequently stepped back from his comments when challenged by the Conservatives over whether he considered the Brexit vote illegitimate.
Channels of interference
According to Mr McCallum, Russia attempted to interfere through anti-European coverage on RT and Sputnik, as well as through troll accounts on social media.
He did not present any new evidence to the public. Instead, he referred to existing concerns about Russian television channels that had been highly active in favour of Brexit during the referendum period. He added that there had been a second line of attempted interference through online trolls.
No evidence the result was affected
Mr McCallum said there is no evidence to suggest that the outcome of the Brexit vote was influenced by this effort, which is generally regarded as having been marginal.
He added that further discussion of the issue would work to Russia’s advantage.
Warning against division
“It is up to us how much we allow our adversaries to divide us,” Mr McCallum said.
He said he was somewhat concerned that if the debate continued for several more days, Russian trolls, who had not appeared to achieve much at various points over the years, would be pleased to find themselves back on the front pages, even though their actions had been unimpressive throughout.
With information from The Guardian
