The Russia connectionRussia’s corruption, influence “a matter of national security”: U.K. Parliamentary panel
“Dirty” Russian money is undermining Britain’s efforts to stand up to the Kremlin and supports President Vladimir Putin’s campaign “to subvert the international rules-based system,” a British parliamentary report says. “The scale of damage that this ‘dirty money’ can do to U.K. foreign-policy interests dwarfs the benefit of Russian transactions in the City,” Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Tom Tugendhat said today (21 May) ahead of the release of the report. “Over the years, Moscow has turned from being a corrupt state to an exporter of instability. Russian corruption and influence has become a matter of national security,” he added.
The United Kingdom must get serious about confronting the full spectrum of President Vladimir Putin’s offensive measures, the U.K. Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee says.
A new report from the Foreign Affairs Committee says that the robust rhetoric from the Prime Minister following the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter has been undermined by the “business as usual” sign hanging on the U.K.’s front door.
Published today (21 May), Moscow’s Gold: Russian Corruption in the U.K. says the use of London as a base for the corrupt assets of Kremlin-connected individuals is now linked to a wider Russia strategy with implications for the U.K.’s national security.
Tackling this should be a major priority for the U.K.’s foreign policy, says the Committee. There is a direct relationship between this wealth and the ability of Putin to execute his aggressive foreign policy and domestic agenda.
“The use of London as a base for the corrupt assets of Kremlin-connected individuals is now clearly linked to a wider Russian strategy and has implications for our national security,” the Committee report said.
“Over the years, Moscow has turned from being a corrupt state to an exporter of instability. Russian corruption and influence has become a matter of national security,” Chair of the Committee, Tom Tugendhat MP, said, adding:
The scale of damage that this ‘dirty money’ can do to U.K. foreign policy interests dwarfs the benefit of Russian transaction in the City. There is no excuse for the U.K. to turn a blind eye as President Putin’s kleptocrats and human rights abusers use money laundered through London to corrupt our friends, weaken our alliances, and erode faith in our institutions.
As the 2018 National Security Capability Review made clear, money laundering is a foreign policy issue as it affects our national security. Today, we make recommendations to Government with the aim of hitting Kremlin-linked individuals in their pockets and levering pressure on the regime.
