Boris Johnson accuses Russia of being behind a plot to ‘assassinate’ a European PM as he warned that Moscow’s spies could disrupt the next general election
Britain’s political parties have been called for an emergency summit with GCHQ spies over fears the 2020 election is at threat from cyber-attacks
BORIS JOHNSON has accused Russia of being behind a plot to “assassinate” a European PM as he warned that Moscow’s spies could disrupt the next UK general election.
He said the Russians were “up to all sorts of dirty tricks” as it emerged Britain’s political parties have been called for an emergency summit with GCHQ spies over fears the 2020 election is at threat from cyber-attacks.
UK spooks have “plenty of evidence” that Russian spies are “capable” of undermining our democracy, the Foreign Secretary added.
In an incredible attack on Moscow, Mr Johnson accused Russia of not just trying to organise a coup in Montenegro last year but “possible even an attempted assassination of the leader of that state” in a bid to stop the Balkan state from joining Nato.
And he said there was “no doubt” that Vladimir Putin’s spies hacked emails from the Democratic Party’s emails to undermine last year’s US presidential elections.
Mr Johnson’s blast comes just days before he is due to fly to Moscow after accepting an invite from Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
GCHQ are so worried about the threat Russian hackers pose to Western democracy they have written to the leaders of all main political parties in Westminster to offer advice on how to defend against attacks.
Seminars will be held to help party staff spot cyber-attacks.
In a letter to party bosses, GCHQ’s cyber security chief Ciaran Martin warned: "This is not just about the network security of political parties' own systems.
“Attacks against our democratic processes go beyond this and can include attacks on parliament, constituency offices, think tanks and pressure groups and individuals' email accounts."
Spies fear Moscow-backed hackers could be stealing vast amounts of our personal details, which political parties collect so they can target specific groups of voters.
Mr Johnson said the Government has “no evidence” the Russians are actively involved in hacking party databases.
But he warned: “What we do have is plenty of evidence that the Russians are capable of doing that.
“And there is no doubt that they’ve been up to all sorts of dirty tricks. Bringing down French TV stations, undermining you’ve seen what happened in the United States where there’s no question at all that they were involved in the hacking of the Democratic National Convention.
“You've seen what’s happened in Montenegro where there was an attempted coup in a European state and possibly even an attempted assassination of the leader of that state. Now there’s very little doubt that the Russians are behind these things.”