Britain faces Russian threat to stability ‘for years to come’, says MP’s report
2 min read
Vladimir Putin’s modern warfare tactics will threaten Western stability “for years to come”, a new report has claimed.
Tory MP Bob Seely warns in a peer-reviewed study that hackers, trolls, paid protesters and misinformation form part of a “full spectrum” destabilisation strategy.
He compares the Kremlin’s strategy to a Russian doll, saying that more than 50 tools of state power are being utilised to influence affairs in other countries.
Mr Seely suggests that in “contemporary Russian conflict” non-military tools are potentially more powerful than military tools, with instruments such as information warfare, cultural manipulation and social media hacktivism able to achieve foreign policy aims.
In his report for the Henry Jackson Society, the former soldier says the West is seen by Moscow as “antithetical to Russia” and an “adversary”.
“From fake news aimed at Europe to the propaganda of RT, and from the occupation of Crimea to the streets of Salisbury, Russia is waging a very modern kind of conflict on the West – as well as on the Russian people themselves,” he says.
“Putin’s tactics owe much to the ‘active measures’ practised by the KGB during the Cold War, subverting truth to undermine our faith in our institutions. He seeks to demoralise and divide us.
“The coming years will test our resilience in multiple ways. If we are to counter Russian aggression and deter future attacks on us and our allies, understanding Contemporary Russian Conflict is a crucial first step.”
Foreign Affairs Committee chair Tom Tugendhat, said: “Up until now, the West has been without a definition of Russian warfare in all its complexity and sophistication.
“Bob Seely has now provided us with an approach based on common understanding of the threat we face. I will be raising this with the other select committees that are investigating Russian activity in the UK.”
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