The wife of Vladimir Putin’s former deputy finance minister donated £325,000 (US$405,033) to Boris Johnson’s party in the first quarter of 2020 as he and his party continues to delay the publication of a report on Russian interference in the country’s political system that was completed in October.

Organized crime groups are poised to take advantage of a possible no-deal Brexit that would leave the UK’s borders vulnerable to fraud, smuggling and criminal activity, a government watchdog is warning.

Leaked documents reveal that Arron Banks, a wealthy businessman and the main donor behind the Leave.EU campaign in England, was offered a deal to join a lucrative business venture with a Russian gold mining company, the Guardian reported after obtaining the documents from the Dossier Center.

The UK is upgrading its national security by adopting a recently implemented European Union fifth anti-money laundering directive, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced in a statement on Tuesday.

On May 12, 2016, David Cameron convened an anti-corruption summit with politicians, officials and civil society organizations to agree on how to fight corruption and improve accountability.

Secretary Kerry Joins British Prime Minister on Panel at Anti-Corruption Summit (Photo by: IIP Photo Archive)

Russian state election observers plan to travel to the United Kingdom (UK) to monitor the much-awaited referendum Thursday on European Union (EU) membership.

But based on their behavior during the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, critics fear that the Russian observers may hope to use the June 23 vote to sow discord in the UK with the help of such time-tested tools as propaganda and trolls.

Russia’s 2014 election observer team, shown at the Russian Embassy in London, included Alexander Ignatov (second from left), Igor Borisov (second from right) and Alexey Martynov (far right) (Photo: Facebook)

Internet trolls normally operate in the shadows, posting inflammatory and often false material behind the mask of anonymity or fake identities.