U.K. foreign secretary Boris Johnson warned Sunday that the Russians have the ability to launch cyberattacks on the British electoral system.
During an appearance on U.K. political talk show “Peston on Sunday,” the former London mayor said there’s plenty of reason to believe Russia could interfere.
“We have no evidence the Russians are actually involved in trying to undermine our democratic processes at the moment,” he told host Robert Peston. “We don’t actually have that evidence. But what we do have is plenty of evidence that the Russians are capable of doing that.”
His statements come the same day The Sunday Times printed reports that Russia is capable of hacking British political parties’ computer systems during the next general election.
Johnson, who’s scheduled to visit Russia in the coming weeks, pointed to its alleged interference in other countries.
“You’ve seen what 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,” he said. “There is very little doubt that the Russians are behind these things, to say nothing of what they have done in Ukraine.”
The U.K. and other European countries have also been on high alert for Russia spreading misinformation through false media reports they suspect are intended to influence European Union politics.
Johnson lamented the loss of the U.K.’s once-cordial relationship with Russia.
“It’s sad that that friendship cannot continue,” he said. “What we need to have is a twin track approach. As the prime minister has said, we’ve got to engage but we have to be aware.”
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