Russian interference in UK elections

"Russian actors" almost certainly sought to interfere in the 2019 UK election through illicitly acquired documents, according to a statement released today by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab.

A long awaited report into allegations of wider Russian interference into UK democracy is due to be published next week.

In a written statement, Mr Raab said that the documents were "illicitly acquired before the 2019 general election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit".

"When these gained no traction, further attempts were made to promote the illicitly acquired material online in the run up to the general election."

The foreign secretary goes on to say that there is "no evidence of a broad spectrum Russian campaign against the general election" but that "any attempt to interfere in our democratic processes is completely unacceptable".

A criminal investigation is underway about how the documents were acquired.

The forum website Reddit said the unredacted papers had been uploaded as "part of a campaign that has been reported as originating from Russia".

It suspended 61 accounts that showed a "pattern of coordination".

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