UK Cannot Be “Complacent” About Russian Interference In General Elections

Emily Thornberry interviewed in Westminster during the morning media round

3 min read19 min

“We need to start thinking about if we are next, which we may be,” Emily Thornberry said.

Thornberry, Labour MP and former shadow attorney general said the Government might need to consider forms of counterattack to Russian disinformation and warned that we must “double down” on supporting new democracies in Eastern Europe. 

Thornberry spoke to PoliticsHome after Romania’s constitutional court last week annulled the country’s presidential elections following concerns over Russian influence. 

The first round of the Romanian presidential election was won by Calin Georgescu, a far-right candidate who has previously praised Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Marcel Ciolacu, Romania’s outgoing prime minister, said the court decision was “the only correct solution after the declassification of the documents… which show that the result of the Romanians’ vote was blatantly distorted as a result of Russia’s intervention”.

The court said social media website TikTok had given Georgescu “preferential treatment”.

Speaking to PoliticsHome following that ruling, Thornberry said the Romanian case is “part of a pattern” and a “form of attack” that the UK “cannot be complacent about”.

“We need to be really alive to the fact that attacks from the Russians are not necessarily about tanks rolling over hills, but there is a new type of warfare which is going on at the moment, this new type of hybrid warfare.” 

She said that while she did not want to be “alarmist”, there is a “pattern of behavior developing, which should concern us [the UK] hugely”. 

“We’ve always thought of ourselves as an island nation, and that somehow the threat from Russia is not as great as it might be if we were on the mainland of Europe.”

Thornberry said her committee is keen to explore how the UK can protect itself and that in recent weeks she had spoken with politicians and diplomats from allies including Germany and Ukraine, as well as countries near Russia like Estonia and Moldova. 

“And they all say the same thing,” Thornberry said.

“There is a real attempt on behalf of Russia to undermine democracies without a doubt.

“I’ve spoken to Germans who talk about how the Russians are trying to influence politics within these countries. And it’s something that we really have to defend ourselves against. It’s really, really worrying.”

While Thornberry is concerned about Russian influence on national elections in the UK, she does not think Russia is interested in local elections, which will next take place in May 2025.

She stressed, however: “I may be wrong, I may be guilty of the very complacency I’ve just said that we shouldn’t be.”

Thornberry said that while the UK is currently giving support to many new democracies in Eastern Europe, “we probably need to double down”.

“I know that there is work done with various countries,” she said.

“But there is probably much more that needs to be done.

“The question is: what should we be doing to protect ourselves? To be protecting other countries? Should we consider forms of counterattack?…

“We need to start thinking about if we are next, which we may be.”

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said over the weekend he was “concerned by reports from Romanian authorities of Russian interference in their presidential elections”.

“Romanian elections should be decided only by the Romanian people, freely and fairly. The UK remains a resolute Ally and friend to Romania and is confident in its democracy,” he posted on the X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

Labour Uma Kumaran, who is a member of the Thornberry-led foreign affairs committee, last week told PoliticsHome that the BBC World Service should be given a funding boost to help Ukraine fight Russia by combatting Kremlin disinformation.

She said the World Service had helped fight Russian “misinformation and disinformation” in countries such as Moldova, where bad actors were using money to “skew” election results.

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