LONDON (Reuters) – Britain said on Thursday that Russia sought to interfere in the 2019 general election by illicitly acquiring sensitive documents relating to a planned free trade agreement with the United States and leaking them on social media.
“It is almost certain that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 General Election through the online amplification of illicitly acquired and leaked Government documents,” Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said.
“Sensitive government documents relating to the UK-US Free Trade Agreement were illicitly acquired before the 2019 General Election and disseminated online via the social media platform Reddit,” Raab said.
“The government reserves the right to respond with appropriate measures in the future,” he added.
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Stephen Addison)
