Has Russia tried to manipulate the Tories in the UK?
The UK's counterintelligence agency ignored requests to investigate the relationship between Russian agents and the Conservative Party. The article by Giuseppe Gagliano
A senior diplomatic official serving at the Russian Federation embassy in London has proposed giving Russian funds to the British Conservative Party, according to a formal complaint filed by a Conservative Party activist.
The information was reportedly ignored by Britain's counter-intelligence agency, the Security Service (MI5), and has now been submitted as a complaint to the Investigative Powers Tribunal (IPT). Established in 2000, the IPT is an independent judiciary which handles public complaints about the UK's intelligence services.
THE SOURCE OF THE COMPLAINT
The source of the complaint is Sergei Cristo, a former reporter for the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) World Service and longtime Conservative Party organiser. Christ's accusations focus on the Conservative Friends of Russia (CFR), a high-profile lobby group founded by prominent Conservative Party MPs, including Nigel Evans, Andrew Rosindell, John Whittingdale and Robert Buckland. The first honorary chairman of the CFR was Sir Malcolm Rifkind, who served as Foreign Secretary under Conservative Prime Minister John Major.
The founding of CFR in 2012 was celebrated at a lavish outdoor reception hosted by the Russian Ambassador to London, Alexander Yakovenko. It was followed by an all-expenses-paid trip to Russia, arranged by the Russian Embassy, for a group of selected CFR members. Among them were prominent Eurosceptics, who later became leading figures in the campaign that led to Britain's exit from the European Union. A few years later, the group was renamed the Westminster Russia Forum (WRF). In 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the WRF disbanded entirely.
During the early days of the CFR, Cristo says he was approached by Sergey Nalobin, first secretary of the Russian embassy's political section. According to Christ, Nalobin was interested in Christ's role as a volunteer in the finance department of Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ). Also known as the Conservative Central Office, CCHQ operates as the headquarters of the British Conservative Party. Cristo says Nalobin told him of his intention to introduce CCHQ officials to "Russian companies who would donate money to the Conservative Party," a proposition illegal under British law.
Cristo was later informed by expatriate Russian journalists that Nalobin was in all likelihood connected to Russian intelligence through his father, a Soviet KGB general who retired as a senior official in the Federal Security Service (FSB). Nalobin's brother Viktor also worked for the FSB at the time, according to Christ.
Cristo contacted MI5 with information about Nalobin's offer. This led to a meeting with two MI5 officers, in which Christ says he was "advised to cease contact" with the Russian diplomat. But the matter was not brought forward. That, however, changed in 2020, when Christ came across the UK Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee's report on Russia. The report – the result of a two-year investigation into Russian political influence campaigns in Britain – criticized MI5 for ignoring "credible evidence" of Russian efforts to interfere in British political life.
At that point, Christ reached out to the conservative chairman of the intelligence and security committee, Julian Lewis, and shared his story. Lewis advised him to file a formal complaint with the IPT. British newspaper The Observer , which reported on Cristo's efforts to publicize Nalobin's activities, said last week that the information shared by Cristo could contain "potentially explosive new evidence confirming the findings of the Committee on Intelligence and safety.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/cybersecurity/russia-partito-conservatore-regno-unito/ on Sat, 28 Jan 2023 07:52:36 +0000.