British prime minister has confirmed the russian interference
For the first time since 2016 British prime minister has confirmed the russian interference into the Brexit referendum. The news which was firstly published on Saturday in “The Rest is Politics” podcast once again reiterated the scale of the russian operation against European States. Furthermore, Burnham warns that in the light of that discovery European states such as Germany and France should remain more vigilance in the face of their upcoming elections. At the same time the announcement itself makes a major blow to the conservatives and their former prime minister Boris Johnson, whose government had spent years negotiating British withdrawal from the European Union. A continuation of the trend which have started since 2014 when as a part of the russian hybrid operations the foreign military intelligence (GRU) and number of states moguls including infamous late Yevgeny Prigozyn have invested into so called troll factories and fake news campaigns. As well as direct attacks on the British soil such as chemical poisoning of the GRU defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in 2018. As such a recent discovery can be seen as a part of a continuing influence operation by the Kremlin in the countries of the West Europe.
Washington continues to seek rapprochement with the Moscow
At the same time this development comes at a time when the Washington continues to seek rapprochement with the Moscow. And such may fuel another wave of the political bickering regarding the alleged role in the success of the electoral campaign of the Republican Party and president Donald J Trump in 2016s presidential elections. An elections which he was able to win by landslide partially to strong personal in house brand of populism and alleged russian influence campaign in the social medias dedicated to the polarize American society regarding the topics such as migration, economic wellbeing, and role of the religion in the America.
Since 2016 Trump have continued to maintain a strong bilateral relationship between USA and UK both on an official and personal level as many members of the ruling Conservative party have historically supported close ties with the Republican Party. An alliance which went in many ways beyond the Special relations when Trump despite historically neutral approach to the internal European Debates regarding European integration have pledged a full support for the Brexit. As well as engaged in the debates regarding the benefits United Kingdom would get from countries withdrawal from the Single Market. Claims which have pretty controversial in the coming years as despite promises to provide more beneficial treatment to the UK companies, Trump have conditioned this approach on the UK alignment of the regulatory standards for the food and medicines with the USA. And which with the notable exception of the AUKUS security deal have shown how limited the British options are inn ability to extend the trade relationships between its traditional trade partners outside EU.
Question of interference continues
As we approach the next presidential elections in France the question of interference continues to be seen as a crucial both in national and international debate. As the question of whether the states should tolerate the impact to the domestic policy and how it impact electoral preferences of the voters remain open.
