Media: Johnson wanted to make new laws for protection from Russia

Prime Minister Boris Johnson intends to adopt new laws on espionage and high treason to counter the threat from Russia and China, reported newspaper the Daily Mail, citing sources.

the Prime Minister also considers it necessary to update the law on protection of state secrets “in order to make it match the digital age”.These changes should be carried out within months, said the newspaper.

“We want to strengthen our response in order to reduce the threat that is now hostile state activity in the UK, and to make the UK a more challenging environment for the actions of our opponents,” — said one of the sources in the government.

Under the new law of treason might be covered by all who have sworn allegiance to another state or organization and trying to enter the territory of the UK (or already in force within the state). This will close a legal loophole that allows members of the banned terrorist organization “Islamic state” to escape justice after returning to the country because of the lack of specific crimes committed in Britain.

the espionage Act involves the creation of a registry of foreign agents operating in the UK. It will also stop the actions of the British, helping the enemies of the state, writes the Daily Mail.

the Publication also notes that if the initiative were adopted, it would be the largest change in the laws on treason since 1695.

last week the head of the British foreign Minister Dominic Raab said the unknown attempts to influence the parliamentary elections of 2019 and said that they almost certainly were the agents of Russia. In particular, in social networks was published illegally obtained government documents with which the attackers tried to influence the opinion of voters, said Raab.

“Although there is no evidence of Russian large-scale campaign against the universal youhog, any attempt of intervention in our democratic process is totally unacceptable. The government reserves the right to take future appropriate action,” said the Minister.

at the same time London has accused Russian intelligence in an attempt to steal information about develop vaccines against coronavirus. According to the National center of cybersecurity in the UK (NCSC) Russian hackers used phishing and malware.

the Kremlin denied allegations of stealing data on the vaccine.

after a few days the parliamentary Committee on intelligence and security published a report about the Russian threat. In particular, the document said that Russia perceives any activity detrimental to the West on a fundamental level, positively. Also, the authors of the report believe that the absence of democratic institutions and the rule of law in Russia allow its intelligence to work without restrictions.

Stories about how you tried to get help from the Russian state in terms of coronaries and what came of it, email it to COVID-19@rosbalt.ru