VIGILANT

British Foreign Minister Fears Russian Election Interference

Foreign secretary says it's a “realistic possibility.”

Britain’s foreign secretary has said he believes there’s a “realistic possibility” the Kremlin will meddle in U.K. elections next month. Boris Johnson made the comments in an interview with The Telegraph published Saturday, saying Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would “rejoice” if the Labour Party wins the June 8 vote. “Clearly we think that is what he did in America, it’s blatantly obvious that’s what he did in France [where incoming president Emmanuel Macron’s emails were hacked], in the western Balkans he is up to all sorts of sordid enterprises, so we have to be vigilant,” Johnson said. He went on to say Putin wants “to undermine faith in democracy altogether and to discredit the whole democratic process.” Even as the U.S. continues to experience the fallout of the Kremlin’s alleged election meddling last year, France became the latest victim of pre-election hacks earlier this month. On the eve of the vote, Macron said a “massive” computer hack dumped his campaign emails online, an attack in which many saw the hand of Moscow.