Sturgeon warns against 'complacency' over Russian interference

Nicola Sturgeon has warned against "complacency" over Russian interference in the UK after a report highlighted links to the 2014 independence vote.

A new report to MPs cited "credible" commentary suggesting that Russia took part in "influence campaigns" in 2014.

MPs said the UK government "should have recognised the threat", but "actively avoided" looking for interference.

The first minister said there was too little in the report about the Scottish referendum to draw conclusions.

But she said "we should not be at any point complacent about the possibility of Russian interference in our democratic processes", accusing UK ministers of "negligence".

• UK 'actively avoided' investigating Russian threat

Ms Sturgeon was speaking after the release of a long-awaited report to Westminster's Intelligence and Security Committee into Russian activity in the UK.

The inquiry covers topics ranging from disinformation campaigns to cyber tactics and the role of Russian expatriates, and says the UK is a "top target" for the state.

The report - which is heavily redacted due to fears Russia could use evidence in it to threaten the UK - cites "credible open source commentary" that "Russia undertook influence campaigns in relation to the Scottish independence referendum in 2014".

It says this was "described as potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process".

The report also highlights that theories about "irregularities in the conduct of the vote" were "widely pushed by Russian state media", but says the UK government "viewed this as being primarily aimed at discrediting the UK in the eyes of domestic Russian audience".

Ms Sturgeon sought to distance the SNP and the Yes campaign from the Russian state, saying: "The Scottish independence movement and the values I and my party stand for I don't think could be further removed from the kind of values that Vladimir Putin and the Russian regime stand for."

She said she would have "no objection" to a deeper inquiry into Russian interference, saying the UK government "should be taking greater steps to find out" whether this is happening.

Ms Sturgeon added: "I don't think you can draw any conclusion from the three lines the report has on the Scottish independence referendum, but I would include that in my general remarks about not being complacent about Russian interference.

"The main message out of an initial reading of this report would be what I think could possibly be described as negligence from the UK government in the face of potential Russian interference.

"I hope this leads to a much more rigorous approach and the UK government taking these threats to our democratic process much more seriously."

Ms Sturgeon said the independence movement did not share values with the Russian regime of Vladimir Putin

SNP MP Stewart Hosie, a member of the committee, said "it suits Russia if there is disunity in the West".

He said more attention should have been paid to the potential for interference in the 2016 EU referendum, but said nobody in government wanted to touch the issue "with a ten foot pole".

Mr Hosie added: "It is astonishing that no-one in government had sought beforehand to protect the 2016 referendum from such attempts, or investigated afterwards what attempts to influence it there may have been.

"The government should have recognised the threat in 2014 in relation to the Scottish referendum, but it didn't understand the threat until after the hack and leak operation against the Democratic National Convention in the United States."

At a press conference to launch the report, Mr Hosie was asked if there were concerns about the involvement of Scottish political figures such as former first minister Alex Salmond, who hosts a talk show on Russian state television.

Mr Hosie said the report focused on Russian channels which were "able to very quickly get out the Russian state version of events", but stressed that "it's not a criticism of any individual programme maker, or commentator, or presenter".

Both the Scottish Conservatives and Labour's Shadow Scottish Secretary Ian Murray said there should be an inquiry to establish the extent of Russian involvement in the 2014 referendum.

Ms Sturgeon said this would be a matter for the UK government, as the intelligence and security services are reserved to Westminster.

The UK government said it had "long recognised there is an enduring and significant threat posed by Russia", and that the country "remains a top national security priority for the government".

The government's formal response to the committee said it had seen "no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum" of 2016, and that a "retrospective assessment" of the vote was "not necessary".

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab tweeted that: "We've been clear that Russian must desist from its attacks on the UK and our allies. We will be resolute in defending our country, our democracy and our values from such hostile state activity."