Boris Johnson says Russia may try to interfere with British election

Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says Russian President Vladimir Putin will rejoice if the Labour Party wins the upcoming UK election.

Boris Johnson says he fears Russian interference in the upcoming UK election.

Boris Johnson says he fears Russian interference in the upcoming UK election. Source: AP

There is a "realistic possibility" that Russia will try to interfere in Britain's national election next month, according to Britain's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

In an interview with The Telegraph newspaper published on Saturday, the Conservative politician also said Russian President Vladimir Putin would "rejoice" if Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party won the June 8 election.
Referring to Putin, Johnson said: "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."

He said Putin wanted "to undermine faith in democracy altogether and to discredit the whole democratic process".

On Friday, Britain's health system was subjected to a major cyber attack.

Watch: Theresa May on cyberattacks

Johnson also said rather than Britain having to pay a divorce bill for leaving the European Union, the EU could end up having to pay Britain because it had contributed to so many EU assets.

"They are going to try to bleed this country white with their bill," he said.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported the EU might seek an upfront payment in 2019 of up to 100 billion euros ($A147 billion). That sum was immediately rejected by British ministers.

Share
2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world