The Commons: Londongrad and the Russia Report
SEAN GLADWELL
The House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia Report was released on 21 July 2020, nearly 9 months after it was made available to the Prime Minister. With public access to the report comes public outrage, with many saying that Johnson’s government has been inactive on the issue of Russian interference in the proceedings of British democratic systems. There’s no doubt of controversy surrounding the UK’s relationship with Russia. As such, the findings of this report echo through an already tense environment.
Beyond concerns around Russia posing “a significant threat to the UK on a number of fronts – from espionage to interference in democratic processes, and to serious crime,” one of the most intriguing facets of the report is that on the topic of Russian oligarchs’ and the Russian elite’s use of London. While the report makes clear that “the Russian elite have developed ties with a number of countries in recent years, it would appear that the UK has been viewed as a particularly favorable destination for Russian oligarchs and their money.” The 1990s saw Russian “exploitation of the UK’s investor visa scheme,” meaning that vast sums of Russian money filtered into London. At first, it seemed as though Westminster “held the belief (more perhaps in hope than expectation) that developing links with major Russian companies would promote good governance by encouraging ethical and transparent practices.” In essence, that if Russia was to conduct business in the UK, they would embrace the ideals of the “law-based commercial” free market. Unfortunately, Parliament’s hopes were dashed as the largely unregulated environment in which Russian business expanded into the UK “offered ideal mechanisms by which illicit finance could be recycled through what has been referred to as the London ‘laundromat’” – Russia was by no means playing by the rules of “ethical and transparent practice,” and the British government did little to counter them. Moving forward into the early 2000s, the seeds of Russian real estate and business dealings spread their roots deeper into the “British establishment – PR firms, charities, political interests, academia and cultural institutions were all willing beneficiaries of Russian money.”
Russian influence in the UK may have begun with a lawful exploitation of foreign investment laws, but over the course of the last few decades, it has become part of the beating heart of the British establishment, or so the report states. The report found that “there are a lot of Russians with very close links to Putin who are well integrated into the UK business and social scene, and accepted because of their wealth.” It’s a vicious cycle: Russian create wealth by infiltrating the British establishment and are accepted in that establishment because of that wealth. In the eyes of the Intelligence and Security Committee, “This level of integration – in ‘Londongrad’ in particular – means that any measures now being taken by the Government are not preventative but rather constitute damage limitation.”
One of the largest concerns facing the UK now is that the Russian threat is not solely external, “the UK now faces a threat from Russia within its own borders” as a result of poor economic policy in the 1990s. This is worrisome as the UK saw a steady decrease in investment for Hostile State Activity services after 2001. Following 9/11, understandably, the UK and other western powers focused majority of their security services into counter-terrorism. That refocus of investment saw the UK’s investment for Hostile State Activity shrink year after year, despite protestation by the ISC. Only in 2014 did HSA regain some importance, though these recent changes are seen to be not only the result of “a continuing escalation of the threat – but appear [rather] to be an indicator of playing catch-up.” The report claims that if the UK hadn’t continuously defunded HSA services, they would not need to invest so much, so urgently, now.
While Her Majesty’s government did invest heavily in counter-terrorism services in the early 21st century, they did not invest enough into countering hostile activity within the UK’s borders. A result of the aforementioned opening of the UK’s economic borders, Russian economic and social influence in Britain has hooked itself into the British establishment; it is not just a foreign Russian threat that the UK must be concerned with, but an internal one. With all eyes on how the UK will proceed in its relationship with Russia, there is little focus on how that relationship is not just one across borders but within them. In the eyes of the Russia Report, Putin’s government is not but an external actor, rather an internal threat. How Boris Johnson’s government will proceed is a complicated question. On July 25, the Guardian published a piece titled “Moscow-on-Thames,” the moniker given to London in the grasp of the Russian oligarchs. The article made clear that “the Conservatives have received more than £3m from wealthy Soviet-born donors – all of whom can legally give money to the party as British citizens.” As Foreign Secretary, Johnson himself maintained a personal relationship with Alexander Lebedev, a Russian media businessman and owner of The Evening Standard and The Independent.
Questions have arisen following the release of this report that Johnson himself may not be in a position to act on its findings as a result of his party’s and his personal connections to the oligarchs in question. In a January 19th statement, “The Prime Minister said there will be no normalization of our bilateral relationship until Russia ends the destabilizing activity that threatens the UK and our allies and undermines the safety of our citizens and our collective security.” While on the surface a good move, Johnson’s rhetoric largely fails to address the Russian threads already existent in and around Westminster itself.
Moving forward, it is unclear exactly how Johnson will proceed, given that the public now has access to this information. While he may address an external threat, he has commented very little about the inordinate power that Russia has created and fortified in the UK – a concern that remains profound with regard to the Russia report.