Hillary Clinton says the UK's decision is 'inexplicable and shameful'
The British government’s refusal to publish a report into alleged covert Russian activity in Britain continues to provoke intense controversy.
And now a foreign politician, in the form of former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, has waded into the dispute by describing the British government’s refusal to publish the report as “inexplicable and shameful”.
Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran for the US presidency in 2016, is currently on a book tour in Britain.
The wife of former US President, Bill Clinton, told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme that she is “dumbfounded” as to why the British government has not published the report.
The report, compiled by Parliament’s cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), reportedly provides a deep and comprehensive assessment of the full range of Russian covert activity on UK soil, as well as against British interests worldwide.
It looks into traditional covert activity, notably espionage, as well as alleged Russian interference in British politics.
The ISC is the Parliamentary committee in charge of overseeing the activities of the UK intelligence community. It relies on the UK’s three core intelligence agencies, MI5, MI6 and GCHQ, for its information and assessments.
The report was finalized in March and passed onto 10 Downing Street in mid-October with the expectation that it would be released to the public.
Despite being granted formal clearance (for publication), the government says it will not consider releasing the report until after the general election, scheduled for December 12.
The Sunday Times reported on November 10 that the ISC report names nine influential Russian business people who are believed to be financial donors of the Conservative party.
There is widespread speculation that the main reason 10 Downing Street is refusing to publish the report is because it contains embarrassing information on links between the Tory party and influential and wealthy Russians.
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