From the editor
The publication of the Russia report by the UK parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee after Prime Minister Boris Johnson had delayed it for nine months attracted enormous interest but revealed little. Instead of pointing to Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum as some had hoped it would, the report said that the UK government had deliberately avoided investigating the possible interference. And there are no signs that Johnson will become any more interested in doing so, as it could undermine his own position. However, the report did say that the UK has been welcoming Russian oligarchs and is not doing enough to block flows of dirty money into the country. Without a doubt Brexit has weakened the UK and made it less able to reject questionable foreign investment than ever. The Kremlin has gained enormously from the UK’s decision to leave the EU, even if it didn’t have to try very hard to get what it wanted.
You can receive this newsletter once a month for free, or sign up here for a weekly subscription for just £3.99 ($5) a month or £45 a year. I’m keen to hear what you’re interested in, so if you have tips or questions please contact me at sarahnhurst@gmail.com. You can follow me on Twitter at @XSovietNews.
UK Russia report scathing of government
The Intelligence and Security Committee of the UK parliament has published a heavily redacted version of its Russia report that Boris Johnson blocked during the election campaign last November. In a press conference after publication the committee’s chairman, Julian Lewis, and two other committee members – the SNP’s Stewart Hosie and Labour’s Kevan Jones – strongly criticised the UK government for delaying the report and for failing to investigate possible Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, despite having seen evidence of interference in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum and later the 2016 US presidential election.
Stewart Hosie, Julian Lewis and Kevan Jones present the Russia report
In response to the committee’s request for written evidence from MI5 about Russian interference in the Brexit campaign, the domestic security service provided just six lines of text, according to the report. “It stated that ***, before referring to academic studies,” the report said, with the length of the redacted text not indicated. “This was noteworthy in terms of the way it was couched (***) and the reference to open source studies ***. The brevity was also, to us, again, indicative of the extreme caution amongst the intelligence and security Agencies at the thought that they might have any role in relation to the UK’s democratic processes, and particularly one as contentious as the EU referendum. We repeat that this attitude is illogical; this is about the protection of the process and mechanism from hostile state interference, which should fall to our intelligence and security Agencies.”
The government should produce an assessment of Russian attempts at interference in the Brexit campaign if only to reassure the public that the UK’s democratic processes remain safe, the report added. “We have not been provided with any post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts at interference, ***,” it said. “This situation is in stark contrast to the US handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, where an intelligence community assessment was produced within two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public. Whilst the issues at stake in the EU referendum campaign are less clear-cut, it is nonetheless the Committee’s view that the UK Intelligence Community should produce an analogous assessment of potential Russian interference in the EU referendum and that an unclassified summary of it be published.”
In a section on Russian expatriates in the UK with a subhead “Welcoming oligarchs with open arms,” the report said that the UK’s investor visa scheme “offered ideal mechanisms by which illicit finance could be recycled through what has been referred to as the London ‘laundromat’.” As a result PR firms, charities, politicians, academics and cultural institutions have all been willing beneficiaries of Russian money, contributing to a “reputation laundering” process, the report went on. “In brief, Russian influence in the UK is ‘the new normal’, and there are a lot of Russians with very close links to Putin who are well integrated into the UK business and social scene, and accepted because of their wealth. This level of integration - in ‘Londongrad’ in particular - means that any measures now being taken by the Government are not preventative but rather constitute damage limitation,” it said.
Reporter beaten after Khabarovsk protest
Protests in Khabarovsk have continued each day for nearly two weeks now, and show no signs of letting up after Vladimir Putin appointed a new governor for the region to replace Sergei Furgal, who is in jail in Moscow. Mikhail Degtyarev, like Furgal, is from Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s LDPR, but he has no previous ties to Khabarovsk. He was previously a hardline Russian Orthodox member of the State Duma, who has been ridiculed for footage of sessions in a sauna with Zhirinovsky. Protesters booed him when he arrived and shouted that he should go home. They have also called repeatedly for Putin to resign. Tens of thousands of people joined a protest at the weekend, and police let it pass off peacefully. One police officer told a reporter, “We are with the people.”
After broadcasting a protest on July 23 live for Alexei Navalny’s team in Khabarovsk, Dmitri Nizovtsev said that he was attacked by three people in the entrance to a building and tweeted a picture of himself with a bruised cheek and cut lip. On the same day Navalny presented a video about the situation in Khabarovsk, saying that Furgal posed a threat to the dominance of United Russia, and exposing the luxury properties of Putin’s representative in the far east, Yuri Trutnev. Navalny also said that Furgal’s former aide Nikolai Mistryukov has been in jail for over six months and authorities are refusing to give him painkillers for his cancer in an effort to force him to testify against Furgal.
This morning Sergei Naumov, a coordinator with Open Russia, also said he was attacked by “titushki” thugs in Khabarovsk working on behalf of authorities and tweeted a video of himself with blood on his mouth and nose.
Opposition leader under pressure
Alexei Navalny has been charged with criminal libel and restricted from leaving Moscow for calling 93-year-old WWII veteran Ignat Artemenko a “toady” for appearing in a video in support of Putin’s changes to the constitution. The case is one of many brought by authorities against Navalny over the years in an effort to slow down his opposition activities. In particular it will prevent him from campaigning in support of opposition candidates in local elections to be held on September 13. The FSB searched the offices of Navalny’s Foundation for Fighting Corruption and his wife’s Yulia’s car, ostensibly in connection with the libel case.
Navalny has also announced that he is being forced to liquidate the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and start a new organisation due to millions of roubles that the foundation has been ordered to pay in lawsuits instigated by authorities and Yevgeny Prigozhin, the sanctioned Putin associate who oversees the “troll factory” and Wagner private military contractors. The Foundation for Fighting Corruption had published a report showing that one of Prigozhin’s companies was awarded a contract to provide food to Moscow schools and daycare centres, and children fell ill because of its poor quality.
Gulag historian sentenced
Gulag historian from Karelia Yuri Dmitriev, 64, has been sentenced to 3 ½ years in prison on charges of sexually abusing his adopted daughter. Human rights activists believe the case was fabricated and Dmitriev was acquitted of related charges in 2018 before being arrested again. Dmitriev has spent decades locating the execution sites of victims of Stalin’s Terror and documenting the evidence. He made a health journal with pictures of his daughter, which was the main evidence against him. Dmitriev should be released in November because of the amount of time he has already spent in custody. Meanwhile, in Yakutia anti-Putin shaman Alexander Gabyshev was released after undergoing forced psychiatric treatment.
US says Russia launched space weapon
US Space Command says it has evidence that Russia conducted a non-destructive test of a space-based anti-satellite weapon on July 15. Russia released an object into orbit from the Cosmos 2543 satellite, according to a statement from US Space Command. “This event highlights Russia's hypocritical advocacy of outer space arms control, with which Moscow aims to restrict the capabilities of the United States while clearly having no intention of halting its own counterspace program - both ground-based anti-satellite capabilities and what would appear to be actual in-orbit anti-satellite weaponry,” said US Assistant Secretary of State Dr. Christopher Ford.
The head of the UK’s Space Directorate, Air Vice-Marshal Harvey Smyth, commented: “Actions of this kind threaten the peaceful use of space and risk causing debris that could pose a threat to satellites and the space systems on which the world depends. We call on Russia to avoid any further such testing.” On the same day that US Space Command released the statement, July 23, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had a phone call in which they discussed arms control.
Ramzan Kadyrov defiant on US sanctions
The US State Department has added new sanctions on Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has responded with a series of videos in which he brags about his freedom and invites Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to visit Chechnya. Kadyrov is not only accused of committing torture, murder and other human rights abuses, but also sending assassins to kill Chechen dissidents around the world. Family members of Mamikhan Umarov, who was shot dead in Austria in early July, have appeared on a video in their village in Chechnya taking responsibility for his murder and apologising to Kadyrov.
The new US sanctions include Kadyrov’s wife Medni Kadyrova and daughters Aishat and Karina Kadyrova. “Today’s action serves to notify Mr. Kadyrov that his involvement in gross violations of human rights has consequences, both for him and his family, and that the United States is committed to using all the tools at our disposal to ensure accountability for those who engage in this abhorrent behavior,” Pompeo said in a statement.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova promised that Russia would retaliate for the sanctions on Kadyrov. “It will be hard to respond reciprocally, but we’ll think of something,” she said. Possibly in response to the sanctions Putin awarded Kadyrov the military rank of major general. “I have always said that I am a true foot soldier of our president,” Kadyrov commented.