Russia engaged in 'hostile activities' during the EU referendum, Donald Tusk suggests

Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council
Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council Credit: Eric Vidal/Reuters

Russia engaged in “hostile activities” during the EU referendum which may have included cyber attacks and the spreading of fake news, Donald Tusk has suggested.

The President of the European Council appeared to point the finger at unwanted interventions from Moscow in democratic votes as he insisted the EU needed to “protect” itself from cyber attacks, fake news and hybrid warfare.

Mr Tusk appeared to claim that Theresa May had outed Russia for interfering in the UK when she delivered a speech earlier this month.

However, while the Prime Minister did attack Russia for such behaviour she did not explicitly say that the country had intervened in the EU referendum.

Mrs May accused Russia in her speech of "weaponising information" and she repeated her tough stance as she arrived in Brussels on Friday for an Eastern Partnership summit with the EU’s neighbours to the east.

She accused Moscow of trying to “tear our collective strength apart”.

Theresa May in Brussels on Friday
Theresa May in Brussels on Friday Credit: Christian Hartmann/Reuters

But speaking at a press conference later on Mr Tusk went much further as he suggested Russia had played a role in the Brexit vote.

Speaking of the need to defend the EU's values, he said: “Today we witness in the free world on both sides of the Atlantic some consequences of intervention which are in fact against this set of values.

“It was also a topic for some member states today during our discussion about the future of the Eastern Partnership.

“One of the biggest problems today is the real threat that comes from cyber attacks, fake news, hybrid war etc.

“After very clear messages in the last three or four days it was an example in a speech from Theresa May in London about hostile activities during the British referendum for example.

“We also remember some very brutal events during the elections in some member states in the EU and also in the United States.

“This is why we have to be very, very cautious, vigilant and also honest. If you want to protect ourselves, if you want to help our partners from the Eastern partnership we have to first of all be aware about the threat inside the EU.”

Mr Tusk continued his apparent attack on Russia by citing his own upbringing.

“I spent the first half of my life in the Soviet bloc and the second part of my life in the free world, the West… if it was a beauty contest I would not hesitate one second to choose,” he said.

Mrs May said Europe needed to be “open eyed about the actions of hostile states like Russia” as she arrived in Brussels for the summit on Friday morning.

EU leaders meet in Brussels on Friday
EU leaders meet in Brussels on Friday Credit: John Thys/AFP 

She said the country sought to “try to tear our collective strength apart” and that she wanted “renewed commitments from European countries to working together to tackle these shared challenges in both security and development”.

The Prime Minister accused Russia of meddling in elections, hacking Western Governments and pursuing its interests “at any cost” at a speech earlier this month as she warned Vladimir Putin: “We know what you are doing and you will not succeed."

In one of her most forthright attacks on Mr Putin, the Prime Minister accused Russia of "weaponising information" and "planting fake stories and photo-shopped images" in an attempt to undermine the West.

However, she did not make any specific claims about alleged Russian interventions in the British democratic process.

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