What is Russian secret services influenced in disturbing democratic United Kingdom?

Russian secret services have been pointed by the United Kingdom as wishing to interfere in

their politics. It raises concerns considering the fact that 2024 will be an election year. Why is

are they accused of such acts?

According to the United Kingdom foreign office, Star Blizzard, which is part of an

aggressive FSB (Federal security service) unit, made hundreds of scam attempts aimed at

British Parliamentarians, ministers and journalists. Leo Docherty, a British politician serving

as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Europe stated that the FSB was using

techniques such as “cyber interference” to target politically connected people. He also said a

group called Centre 18, a unit within the FSB, has been involved in cyber-espionage. It is

believed that Centre 18 is seeking for sensitive information about candidates. If they manage

to do so, their image could be harmed through leaks. Such revelations have the potential to

highly influence the elections. It is still difficult to determine the amount of data which is in

the hands of the Russian Federation. In fact, at this date, the British ministry did not

communicate on this aspect. It can be either due to the fact that this information remains

unknown to them or that they do not want to scare the population by revealing such details to

the general public. However, they publicly stated that they had concerns about potential use of

this data. They denounce a campaign to undermine British institutions.

Overall, it is still difficult to know exactly to what extent Russian secret services influence

and will influence British politics, but the FSB and more specifically the Centre 18 is

certainly aiming at damaging the system.