How Russia backed Jeremy Corbyn and the Kremlin trolls targeting the UK
The Sun Online examines Russia's state media and the troll factories bidding to undermine Britain's security by campaigning to sow division and chaos across the country
A TWISTED Russian cyber campaign which has backed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is aiming to sow division across the UK, experts have warned.
Researchers have been able to monitor sinister Russian state-backed interference targeting Britain over the last three years.
They have tracked co-ordinated actions targeting political campaigns, terror attacks and even harassment of MPs who have criticised the authoritarian state.
The warning of further attacks comes as mounting evidence points to Russia being the chief suspect behind the poisoning of a former Russian MI6 spy and his daughter with a "very rare" nerve agent.
Sergei Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia remain in a critical condition after being targeted on Sunday near to the former Russian military intelligence officer's home in Salisbury, Wilts.
But experts have warned the poisoning could be part of the broader Russian campaign aimed at undermining Britain's security.
Security expert Professor Anthony Glees, of the Oxford Intelligence group, told Sun Online: "Russia's aim is to show its mastery over cyberspace and sow confusion and chaos in Britain.
"Their campaigns on social and in state media are not about changing people's opinions but validating and reinforcing the views people already have."
Studies over the last few years show Kremlin troll factories and Russian state media have backed a range of political causes including Mr Corbyn's Labour party, Scottish independence and Brexit in a bid to sow division in the UK.
In 2015 Russian-funded TV channel RT (formerly Russia Today) and news agency Sputnik threw their weight behind Mr Corbyn's Labour leadership bid and then repeated the support for him in last year's election.
RT was founded by President Putin in 2005 and is regarded as a Kremlin propaganda network by critics in the west.
Following the poisoning of Mr Skripal MPs have warned the station could lose its UK broadcast licence if Russia was found to be behind the attack.
And researchers have told told that while Corbyn was not a conscious actor in 2015 he was supported by Russian state media because "many of his views" echoed those of the Kremlin's.
They include his "opposition to the renewal of Trident" and "criticism of the U.S." which "chime closely with Moscow's own strategic narrative of a weak, decadent and divided West, and are therefore useful to validate the Kremlin's views."
The experts - Ben Nimmo of US think tank the Atlantic Council and Dr Jonathan Eyal of defence group RUSI - said to Parliament in the case of Russian TV there was "clear and systematic RT bias in favour of Corbyn" in 2015.
The then-Labour leader candidate was featured in 89 per cent of headlines on RT about the 2015 contest with 84 per cent of the coverage in favour.
And in last year's general election the Atlantic Council found there had been deliberate campaigns by RT and the Sputnik news agency - also funded by the Kremlin - to support Mr Corbyn.
Researchers found Sputnik and RT repeatedly published editorials supporting the Labour leader and attacking Prime Minister Theresa May during the election campaign.
Mr Corbyn has previously appeared on controversial station RT - an arm of the Russian state which has been accused of working closely with the Kremlin's military to produce war propaganda.
Senior researcher Mr Nimmo said the 2017 Russian state media campaign was "supporting Corbyn against his opponents both in the Labour party and outside it."
Researchers at the Atlantic Council and UK-based Institute for Statecraft (IFS) also found that Russian state media and trolls repeatedly backed Scottish independence, Brexit and even targeted critical MPs in December.
They discovered evidence of Twitter accounts potentially linked to the notorious Russian cyber troll factory in St Petersburg - officially called the Internet Research Agency (IRA).
Trolls were found attacking MPs including Justice Secretary David Gauke, Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee chair Damian Collins and the Liberal Democrats' Tom Brake for criticising Russia.
One account @iamjohnsmith attacked Mr Brake in November after he suggested Russia should be investigated over potential interference in the UK's EU referendum.
The account - using hackneyed English language - blasted back: "Total lies! Utter tosh ! What history? Name one fact!! You should resign immediately for that utter tripe. #desperate"
It regularly shares Kremlin messages on issues including Ukraine, Crimea, the shooting down of MH17, and Turkey’s downing of a Russian aircraft in November 2015 .
Other accounts attacked MPs including Conservative Mr Gauke in November after he tweeted an exchange in which he refused to talk with RT after branding the channel a "propaganda station".
An account under the name Richard N - with the handle @FXdestination - trolled the MP writing: "No. RT is a hundred times more truthful than the BBC, or any UK TV channel.
"Or those in the US or Canada, almost every one of which is Soros / Globalist-controlled."
The suspected Russian troll account - described as "anonymous, active and aggressive" by experts - also copied in others who attacked Mr Gauke.
A white supremacist troll account - suspected of being Russian - under the handle @ProudPatriot101 tweeted the MP: "'Reputable politicians'? I have never, not once in my life come across one...They don't exist... RT tells the truth, is that why you don't like them?"
Both @iamjohnsmith and @ProudPatriot101 accounts have since been closed down while @FXdestinations remains active.
Mr Nimmo concluded that the accounts "represent a direct attempt by pro-Kremlin, and perhaps Kremlin-controlled, accounts to have an impact on UK politicians, and thus on UK politics."
He told Sun Online Russian influence campaigns would continue to target the UK, adding: "One of the main goals has always been to promote division.
"Wesaw that in the US, where Russian troll accounts pushed both sides of issues like gun control, race and immigration.
"A lot of the time, it’s not about backing one side, it’s about polarising both sides."
RT has been heavily criticised in the west as a mouthpiece of the Kremlin with front-bench Labour politicians and Tory grandees slammed for appearing on the channel.
Former Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond has a show on the channel while Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has signed a £1million deal as a pundit for this summer's World Cup which MPs have since called for him to cancel.
Meanwhile Russian propaganda campaigns and bot factories have been accused of conducting a large-scale operation to influence the 2016 US presidential election.
Thirteen Russians and three organisations - including the notorious IRA troll factory - have been indicted in America for waging a campaign to support Donald Trump and attack candidate Hillary Clinton.
The IRA troll factory - based in St Petersburg - was founded in 2013 and began its campaign to influence the US election in 2014.
Around 900 trolls are employed by the firm - owned by a government contractor who is close friends with President Putin - to flood social media and message boards with propaganda posts and content.
In September Facebook confirmed it had closed down 470 "inauthentic" accounts linked to the IRA which were likely operated in Russia while 201 accounts were removed from Twitter.
And in November it emerged 419 IRA accounts out of 2,752 closed in the US by Twitter had been publishing posts about Brexit - but admitted this could be "just the tip of the iceberg".
Others had attempted to stir anti-Islamic feelings during the Westminster Bridge terror attack in March last year by posting a bogus claims a Muslim woman ignored victims.
It comes as MPs and military figures have warned of serious consequences if Russia is found to have been behind the attack on Mr Skripal and his daughter, which also left policeman Nick Bailey in a coma in hospital.
Scientists at the government's Porton Down lab in Wiltshire have identified the "very rare" nerve agent which is not thought to be sarin or VX.
President Putin appeared to hit back this week, attacking western sanctions and mocking: "Those who serve us with poison will eventually swallow it and poison themselves."
As a result of the poisoning in the cathedral city of Salisbury 21 people were treated by medics.
Police have sealed off the graves of Mr Skripal's son Alexander and wife Liudmilla as part of the investigation.
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And forensic officers were carrying out a major search of the former spy's semi-detached home and sealed off a garage and car recovery service elsewhere.
It is thought policeman DS Bailey may have been contaminated after visiting Mr Skripal's home and that the pair could have been poisoned at the house despite being found slumped on a bench outside a shopping centre.
Around 180 military personnel have also been called in to remove evidence potentially contaminated by the nerve agent.
Mr Skripal had been a Russian GRU (military intelligence) officer who spied for Britain's MI6 agency and received £76,000 for information before he was exposed then came to Britain as part of a spy swap deal in 2010.
The attack has echoes of the 2006 poisoning of former Russian FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko who was living in London when he was murdered with polonium in his tea during a meeting with ex-FSB officer Andrei Lugovoi.
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