UK took its ‘eye off the ball’ on Russian meddling, long-awaited report findsBy Angela Dewan, Luke McGee and Richard Allen Greene, CNNUpdated 1412 GMT (2212 HKT) July 21, 2020India coronavirus Covid-19 1 million case Sud pkg intl hnk vpx_00013310.jpgIndia faces challenges as country tops 1 million casesBolivian nurses warn Covid-19 has ‘collapsed’ health systemBRISTOL, ENGLAND – JULY 15: A new sculpture, by local artist Marc Quinn, of Black Lives Matter protestor Jen Reid stands on the plinth where the Edward Colston statue used to stand on July 15, 2020 in Bristol, England. A statue of slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of an African American man, George Floyd, while in the custody of Minneapolis police in the United States of America. The Mayor of Bristol has since announced the setting up of a commission of historians and academics to reassess Bristol’s landmarks and buildings that feature the name of Colston and others who made fortunes in trades linked to slavery. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)Black Lives Matter statue stands for just 25 hoursFootage shows ships damaged by fire at Iranian port cityA woman walks amid symbolic graves on Copacabana beach, dug by activists from NGO Rio de Paz protesting the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 11, 2020. A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to resume publication of full COVID-19 data, including the cumulative death toll, following allegations the government was trying to hide the severity of the pandemic in Latin America’s biggest country. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)Brazil passes 1 million coronavirus casesHuaweiUK’s Huawei 5G ban could prompt other nations to follow suitJerusalem protest water cannonPolice use water cannons on protesters outside Netanyahu residenceGrant Imahara tests his bamboo blowpipe in preparation for the upcoming ninja myth segment for the cable television show “Mythbuster” in San Francisco, California, February 29, 2008. (Photo by John Walker/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)Grant Imahara, host of ‘MythBusters,’ has diedUK report reveals new information on Russian meddlingAsia floods India Bangladesh China Hancocks pkg intl hnk vpx_00020923.jpgIndia, Bangladesh battered by monsoon floodsA general view of a sign outside of the University of Oxford Old Road Campus, which houses the Jenner Institute and is where the first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Oxford is taking place in Oxford, England on April 29.University of Oxford vaccine trial shows promising early resultsA screenshot of the UAE’s Mars probe taking off from Japan.UAE successfully launches the Arab world’s first Mars missionFirefighters are at work to put out a fire at the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in Nantes, France, on July 18, 2020. – The major fire that broke out on July 18, 2020 inside the cathedral in the western French city of Nantes has now been contained, emergency services said. It is a major fire,” the emergency operations centre said, adding that crews were alerted just before 08:00 am (0600 GMT) and that 60 firefighters had been dispatched. (Photo by Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images)French cathedral blaze investigated as possible arsonPolice in Italy find shipment of coffee beans stuffed with cocaineCocaine-filled coffee beans seized by policerussia coronavirus vaccine trials lab concerns cyberattack chance dnt lead vpx_00001229How close is Russia to developing a Covid-19 vaccine?India coronavirus Covid-19 1 million case Sud pkg intl hnk vpx_00013310.jpgIndia faces challenges as country tops 1 million casesBolivian nurses warn Covid-19 has ‘collapsed’ health systemBRISTOL, ENGLAND – JULY 15: A new sculpture, by local artist Marc Quinn, of Black Lives Matter protestor Jen Reid stands on the plinth where the Edward Colston statue used to stand on July 15, 2020 in Bristol, England. A statue of slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down and thrown into Bristol Harbour during Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of an African American man, George Floyd, while in the custody of Minneapolis police in the United States of America. The Mayor of Bristol has since announced the setting up of a commission of historians and academics to reassess Bristol’s landmarks and buildings that feature the name of Colston and others who made fortunes in trades linked to slavery. (Photo by Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)Black Lives Matter statue stands for just 25 hoursFootage shows ships damaged by fire at Iranian port cityA woman walks amid symbolic graves on Copacabana beach, dug by activists from NGO Rio de Paz protesting the government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 11, 2020. A Brazilian Supreme Court justice ordered the government of President Jair Bolsonaro to resume publication of full COVID-19 data, including the cumulative death toll, following allegations the government was trying to hide the severity of the pandemic in Latin America’s biggest country. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)Brazil passes 1 million coronavirus casesHuaweiUK’s Huawei 5G ban could prompt other nations to follow suitJerusalem protest water cannonPolice use water cannons on protesters outside Netanyahu residenceGrant Imahara tests his bamboo blowpipe in preparation for the upcoming ninja myth segment for the cable television show “Mythbuster” in San Francisco, California, February 29, 2008. (Photo by John Walker/Fresno Bee/Tribune News Service/Getty Images)Grant Imahara, host of ‘MythBusters,’ has diedUK report reveals new information on Russian meddlingAsia floods India Bangladesh China Hancocks pkg intl hnk vpx_00020923.jpgIndia, Bangladesh battered by monsoon floodsA general view of a sign outside of the University of Oxford Old Road Campus, which houses the Jenner Institute and is where the first human trials of a coronavirus vaccine developed by researchers at the University of Oxford is taking place in Oxford, England on April 29.University of Oxford vaccine trial shows promising early resultsA screenshot of the UAE’s Mars probe taking off from Japan.UAE successfully launches the Arab world’s first Mars missionFirefighters are at work to put out a fire at the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral in Nantes, France, on July 18, 2020. – The major fire that broke out on July 18, 2020 inside the cathedral in the western French city of Nantes has now been contained, emergency services said. It is a major fire,” the emergency operations centre said, adding that crews were alerted just before 08:00 am (0600 GMT) and that 60 firefighters had been dispatched. (Photo by Sebastien Salom-Gomis/AFP/Getty Images)French cathedral blaze investigated as possible arsonPolice in Italy find shipment of coffee beans stuffed with cocaineCocaine-filled coffee beans seized by policerussia coronavirus vaccine trials lab concerns cyberattack chance dnt lead vpx_00001229How close is Russia to developing a Covid-19 vaccine?India coronavirus Covid-19 1 million case Sud pkg intl hnk vpx_00013310.jpgIndia faces challenges as country tops 1 million casesLondon (CNN)The UK took its “eye off the ball” in relation to Russia’s attempts to meddle in British politics and deliberately “glossed over” allegations of a Kremlin-sponsored influence campaign during the Brexit referendum, an influential group of UK lawmakers say.British security services were distracted by the post 9/11 terrorist threat and didn’t give sufficient priority to Russia’s attempts to gain influence in the UK, which Moscow regarded as one of its top intelligence targets, the UK parliament’s cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee said.UK, US and Canada allege Russian cyberattacks on Covid-19 research centersUK, US and Canada allege Russian cyberattacks on Covid-19 research centersUK politicians allowed rich Russians with deep ties to the Kremlin to gain influence and access in London, using it as a “laundromat” for illicit funds. Cultural institutions, PR firms, political groups and even real-estate agents became unwitting stooges of the Russian state, the report says.”Russian influence in the UK is the new normal,” the report concludes. “Successive governments have welcomed the oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘laundromat’, and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures,” the committee said in a press release accompanying the report.The findings are the result of an eight-month investigation into Russia’s influence in UK politics and public life. The report was delayed when Prime Minister Boris Johnson called a general election as it was being completed. The committee has been critical of the delay in publication.Among the committee’s expert witnesses were former MI6 spy Christopher Steele, author of the explosive Trump-Russia dossier that painted a picture of widespread conspiracy of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government, a document that Trump has dismissed as “phony” and full of lies.Russian influence on BrexitIn one key section of the report, dealing with the Brexit referendum, the British government is accused of failing to conduct a thorough inquiry into allegations of a Kremlin-sponsored influence campaign.Companies warn ‘huge gamble’ on Brexit could add to Britain’s growing jobs crisisCompanies warn ‘huge gamble’ on Brexit could add to Britain’s growing jobs crisis”We have not been provided with any post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts at interference,” the report says, redacting a clause that followed. “This situation is in stark contrast to the US handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, where an intelligence community assessment was produced within two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public.”The report said that British intelligence agencies didn’t see the security of UK voting process as part of their role because they feared the issue was a “hot potato.” One of the members of the committee, Stewart Hosie, told reporters in a press briefing that the government was afraid of what such an investigation might show.In an interview with CNN, the committee’s former chair, Dominic Grieve, said that the issue of Russian meddling in the Brexit vote had been intentionally “glossed over.””There was no government desire to look at it and it hasn’t looked at it,” said Grieve, who chaired the committee when it carried out the investigation. He added that it “troubled” the committee that there was so little intelligence on Russia’s role in the vote.”Because it seems to me that it was a very significant democratic event, that there is now plenty of evidence of Russian interference in democratic processes, and it there ought really to be a proper focus on whether it happened in this particular case or not.”The committee called on the UK intelligence community to produce and make public an assessment Russia’s role in the Brexit referendum.In its response, the UK government rejected the committee’s calls for such a probe, saying it received regular updates of all threats considered hostile state activities. “We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU Referendum,” the statement said.”Where new information emerges, the government will always consider the most appropriate use of any intelligence it develops or receives, including whether it is appropriate to make this public. Given this long-standing approach, a retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary.”The report also contains a redacted section on whether Moscow attempted to interfere with the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, referring to “credible open source commentary” related to “what some commentators have described as potentially the first post-Soviet Russian interference in a Western democratic process.”But the next sentence trails off into a string of asterisks showing the report has been redacted: “We note that — almost five years on — ***.”Accusation hurled against JohnsonThe document, with a redacted annex, was based on interviews behind closed doors with experts and members of the country’s intelligence community. Johnson was accused of blocking its publication ahead of last year’s general election, in which his Conservative Party won a landslide victory.Opposition politicians accused the government of a cover-up, saying it could raise awkward questions about the validity of the Brexit referendum in 2016 and expose the alleged Russian connections of some in the ruling Conservative party.Opening the press conference that launched the report’s publication, Kevan Jones, a Labour MP who sat on the committee under its previous chairmanship, said that the report’s delay was because Johnson failed give his permission for the report to be published in the standard 10 days after its submission to Downing Street.Various explanations offered by the government for the report’s delay were “categorically not true,” he said. The delay had “fueled speculation” around what the report might say about Russian involvement in the 2016 Brexit referendum.Many of Johnson’s team inside Downing Street worked on the victorious Vote Leave team, the official Brexit campaign during the 2016 referendum, including his most senior adviser, Dominic Cummings. Since the referendum there have been numerous accusations that the Vote Leave campaign, which was fronted by Johnson and contained many members of his current cabinet and political advisers, misled the public on a range of subject from the economic realities of Brexit to immigration. The delay of the report and subsequent speculation that it contained a smoking gun tying Brexit to Russia would therefore have been potentially damaging to many of the most senior figures in the government.CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh and Jo Shelley contributed to this report.PAID CONTENT[Pics] Rude Mom Keeps Blocking Builder’s Truck So He Teaches Her an Expensive Lesson[Pics] Rude Mom Keeps Blocking Builder’s Truck So He Teaches Her an…ArticlesvallyChris Cuomo on President Trump’s Goya endorsement: How does he have time for this BS?Chris Cuomo on President Trump’s Goya endorsement: How does he have time for this BS? Chris Cuomo on President Trump’s Goya endorsement: How does he have time for this BS?PoliticsChris Cuomo on President Trump’s Goya endorsement: How does he have time for this BS?Police in Italy find shipment of coffee beans stuffed with cocainePolice in Italy find shipment of coffee beans stuffed with cocaine[Gallery] Mom Booted Off Plane Over Outfit[Gallery] Mom Booted Off Plane Over OutfitArticlesvallyA swarm of flying ants stretched for miles over the UK and looked like rain on weather radarA swarm of flying ants stretched for miles over the UK and looked like rain on weather radarWorldA swarm of flying ants stretched for miles over the UK and looked like rain on weather radarChicago mayor tells WH press secretary, ‘Hey Karen. Watch your mouth’ after criticismChicago mayor tells WH press secretary, ‘Hey Karen. Watch your mouth’ after criticismU.S.Chicago mayor tells WH press secretary, ‘Hey Karen. Watch your mouth’ after criticismSmelly durian fruit sends six to hospital and forces evacuationSmelly durian fruit sends six to hospital and forces evacuationSpain orders cull of nearly 100,000 farmed mink after animals test positive for Covid-19Spain orders cull of nearly 100,000 farmed mink after animals test positive for Covid-19Search CNN…SearchWorldUS PoliticsBusinessHealthEntertainmentTechStyleTravelSportsVideosFeaturesMoreWeatherWorldFOLLOW CNNTerms of UsePrivacy PolicyAccessibility & CCAdChoicesAbout UsModern Slavery Act StatementAdvertise with usCNN StoreNewslettersTranscriptsLicense FootageCNN NewsourceSitemap© 2020 Cable News Network.Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.All Rights Reserved.CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network.