“It’s in very much Russia’s interest to destabilise countries like Britain and the United States.”
Security services will be “looking very carefully” at the instigators of recent riots, like Tommy Robinson, for links to Russia, says @Chris_D_Steele.
📻 https://t.co/sO461gHoYq pic.twitter.com/Sv7DgFkthG
— Times Radio (@TimesRadio) August 11, 2024
In general, putting former intelligence agents on the media as expert commentators is a really weird move. But this guy is something else altogether.
“Ivan told them to become anti-stabbers” is an absolutely lunatic statement.
There is “clear” Russian involvement in the far-right riots and security services will be looking closely at the instigators, a former head of the MI6 Russia desk has said.
Christopher Steele, the ex-spy who compiled a notorious dossier on Donald Trump’s relationship with Russia, said that security officials would be “looking very carefully” at the people encouraging anti-immigration riots in the past fortnight.
…
Speaking to Times Radio, Steele said of the riots: “I think it’s clear there is some Russian involvement. The degree to which that’s happened and the effectiveness I think is still out for question. I mean, when you look at the original disinformation that surrounded the Southport killings, that does seem to have come from a Russian-linked website.”
The origin of the false claim about the Southport stabbing perpetrator appears to be an outlet called Channel3 Now, which is styled to resemble a mainstream American network news channel and mixes potentially AI-generated US and UK news material. This website posted spurious claims that the Southport attacker was “on the MI6 watch list” and was “known to mental health services”. This was amplified by prominent far-right influencers.
Steele said that the security services “will be looking very carefully at the instigators of these activities, including people like Tommy Robinson, even conceivably Nigel Farage, who incidentally said that we were being misinformed by the government about Southport”.
Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been posting reams of material on platforms including X praising anti-immigration protesters from his holiday in Cyprus.
He is literally on vacation at a luxury resort while all this is happening.
He was at the very first event, immediately after the stabbing, then he got arrested, released, and fled the country to Cyprus. He’s probably trying to get into Israel.
Farage has come under fire for stoking conspiracy theories about the Southport attack by questioning “whether the truth is being withheld from us”. He has said he condemns “all acts of political violence”. The Guardian contacted Reform UK for comment.
Steele said security officials would be “looking at things like their travel movements, who they’ve been in touch with, monetary transfers, and so on, because that will reveal or not, as the case may be, a pattern of behaviour, which can lead to some conclusions about the degree to which Russia has been interfering in this situation”.
No one thinks the truth is being withheld at this point.
Whether or not British intelligence knew who he was is irrelevant, totally.
What is relevant now is that the UK police and the entire government are standing with the pro-stabbing movement and attacking the anti-stabbers. Further, riots continued to heat up in a second round after the court started putting people in prison for complaining about stabbing on the internet.
We are absolutely fucked.
This is insane.
Wake up.
— Laurence Fox (@LozzaFox) August 9, 2024
I don’t think Ivan posted the “fake news.” But it has nothing to do with anything.
Tommy Robinson has nothing to do with anything.
🇮🇪 MAN JAILED FOR WATCHING RIOTS IN BELFAST
Cameron Armstrong, 18, from Belfast, was charged with rioting despite his lawyer stating he had only gone to the area where protests were taking place “to have a look.”
Judge Rafferty said: “He doesn’t have to throw a petrol bomb or… pic.twitter.com/l4MNpRCpH6
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) August 10, 2024