Maajid Nawaz argues 'Reddit leaks' mean PM must release Russia report

7 December 2019, 14:08

Leaked documents that are now being linked to Russia prove that Boris Johnson must release a report into Russian interference in elections, argues Maajid Nawaz.

Maajid Nawaz reflected on Andy McDonald's response to the suggestions that leaked documents of UK-US trade deals could be linked to a Russian disinformation campaign.

Reddit's security team say a 451-page document published on their platform suggests Russian could have hacked our government systems.

Maajid said: "Surely, all of this would be cleared up if the Government released the Russia report - which is already pre-redacted and therefore sensitive to any classified information?"

He argued that, if these documents are classified, then the Government cannot confirm or deny their veracity. To do so, he said, this would be to confirm or deny Russia's success or failure in hacking our systems.

He continued: "But the general overall point that the Prime Minister should have released the Russia report stands. Russian interference in our elections is very real. We can see it. Here's the latest evidence of it."

Maajid then said: "So we're all aware that the Russians have been involved in this.

"So why did Boris Johnson or does he deem it suitable not to release the Russia report which educates us as to exactly what Putin is up to and provides recommendations to Government.

And of course, then Her Majesty's opposition can see those recommendations as well and hold the government to scrutiny as to what they're doing to prevent such a thing from recurring."

He continued: "If it is true that these documents are indeed authentic and were hacked and leaked, then of course, there are questions that no doubt the Home Affairs Select Committee would like to ask of our intelligence services as to how such vulnerabilities are allowed to occur.

And therefore, it is important that we know the extent of the problem, which is what one imagines the Russia report sought to do. So the Prime Minister must surely release it."