GETTY Russia meddled in Scottish independence referendum to aid SNP, claims Mark Galeotti

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Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russian security and politics, said Vladimir Putin’s spies worked in the shadows to aid the SNP’s campaign to break up the UK. He believes the Kremlin is using its intelligence agencies to “support political and other movements sympathetic to or simply useful for Moscow”. Russia would benefit from Scottish independence as it would weaken the UK and Nato by putting Trident’s future under threat. An investigation by the Sunday Express has established a timeline of potential Russian interference during late 2013 and 2014.

State-controlled news agency RIA Novosti, which has been accused of publishing “fake news” in the US, ran no fewer than 210 stories about the referendum in the final six months before the vote.

The Foreign Intelligence Service and FSB are now especially active in Europe Mark Galeotti - Expert on Russian security and politics

Many of the reports contained dubious claims in support of the Yes campaign and were widely shared on social media in Scotland. There was also a surge in Russian naval and air force activity that allowed the SNP to present Britain’s military defences as weakened. A pro-independence website claimed it had been “hacked” from Russia while police revealed a spike in Russian cybercrime against Scots businesses and public bodies.

GETTY Vladimir Putin’s spies worked in the shadows to aid the SNP’s campaign says Mark Galeotti

And a Russian civil rights campaigner who dispatched supposedly “independent” observers to monitor the 2014 ballot can be revealed today as having ties to the Kremlin. In his briefing for the European Council on Foreign Relations, Dr Galeotti, wrote: “The Foreign Intelligence Service and FSB are now especially active in Europe, and the organisations they support include anti-fracking environmental movements (which, however genuine in their concerns, usefully maintain Moscow’s gas markets), nationalist and anti-federal political groups, Russian diaspora movements in the Baltics, and separatists from Spain to Scotland. “They sometimes work through or in parallel with overt agencies such as Rossotrudnichestvo (the Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad, and International Humanitarian Cooperation), charities, and even financial institutions, such as the Russian banks that loaned millions of euros to French nationalist Marine Le Pen’s Front National. “It is often difficult to tell where the activities of the agencies end and other Russian institutions begin, but this is not necessarily a meaningful distinction: to the Kremlin, the tools in its box are interchangeable.” His warning was echoed by American intelligence chiefs in a statement about Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails released shortly before Donald Trump’s election win. It said: “The Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there.”

GETTY Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails were released shortly before Donald Trump’s election win

According to the unverified Trump dossier, the Rossotrudnichestvo office in Prague was used for a meeting between a lawyer representing the President-elect and Russian officials. The Rossotrudnichestvo office in London has ties to the Scotland-Russia Institute in Edinburgh and Kremlin-controlled media outlet Sputnik News, the successor organisation to RIA Novosti. Sputnik opened an Edinburgh bureau last year headed by Oxana Brazhnik, a former political adviser to Putin’s deputy chief of staff. However, the news agency first began reporting on Scottish politics in April 2014 and published a raft of stories heavily weighted in favour of independence. One of its reports revealed that Alexander Brod, director of the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, was sending observers to monitor the vote. Brod is a member of Putin’s “civic chamber” and is said to have close ties with the Kremlin, despite his often outspoken and critical stance on civil rights in Russia. In 2005, Brod’s fellow campaigners accused him of deliberately aggravating the “uneasy relationship” between human rights campaigners and law enforcement agencies. He described the claims as “dirty” but did not deny them, adding: “I cooperate with the authorities, while others cooperate with the [US] State Department.” His colleague, Igor Borisov, who led the team of observers, claimed the referendum had been “rigged”, prompting calls for a rerun and petition signed by more than 100,000.

GETTY A pro-independence website claimed it had been ‘hacked’ from Russia

Borisov criticised the “aircraft hangar” used for the Edinburgh count, and said: “Nobody was interested in who was bringing in the voting slips. There were no stamps or signatures as the bulletins were handed over.” Meanwhile, state-funded Rossiya Segodnya Research Centre and Brand Analytics, a Moscow internet firm with links to the Ministry of Culture, launched a project to “monitor social media” in Scotland. It examined 600,000 messages posted on Facebook, Twitter and other sites between September 9-12 and found that 77 per cent were in favour of independence. Kremlin-backed TV network Russia Today also played a key role, providing a regular platform for then First Minister Alex Salmond and other top SNP ministers. In August 2013, newsreader Sophie Shevardnadze – granddaughter of Soviet foreign minister Eduard Shevardnadze – flew to Shetland to interview Mr Salmond. Independence supporters have claimed MI5 also intervened in favour of a No vote, while sources say the CIA took a “keen interest” as well.

Last night, Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Crawford (Retd), a military analyst and former SNP defence advisor, said: “Anything that would weaken Nato would be followed closely in Russia. I know there was great interest in the independence debate, particularly on how it could affect the UK’s nuclear armed submarine fleet.” Asked if Putin might have attempted to influence public opinion, Lt Col Crawford said: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t also some attempts to put a position that was favourable to Russia through the UK press.” An SNP spokesman said: “There was a great deal of media interest from across the world in Scotland’s independence referendum in 2014, which was widely regarded to meet the gold standard in terms of democratic fairness, transparency and propriety.”

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MOD A Russian naval group led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sails close to the Moray Firth

Timeline of meddling December 2013 A Russian naval task group led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov sails close to the Moray Firth. A Royal Navy boat takes 24 hours to arrive from Portsmouth and the SNP condemns the lack of military protection around the Scottish coast. January 2014 The Kremlin-controlled Itar-Tass news agency reveals that David Cameron has asked Vladimir Putin to oppose Scottish independence. Putin later tells the BBC’s Andrew Marr that “any people have a right to self-determination” but adds that being “part of a single strong state has its advantages”. He jokes that Scotland could join the new Russian customs union, saying: “I wouldn’t rule it out.” SNP culture secretary Fiona Hyslop and external affairs minister Humza Yousaf meet with Russian Consul General Andrey Pritsepov to discuss the Russia Year of Culture. February 2014 The pro-independence website Wings Over Scotland reveals it has been hacked from computers in Russia. The Ukrainian revolution sees the pro-Russian president overthrown and sparks a military conflict in the east of the country.

Vladimir Putin's funniest pictures Wed, May 11, 2016 Russian President Vladimir Putin in pictures. Play slideshow Getty Images 1 of 46 Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an ice hockey match

GETTY Alex Salmond admits in a GQ interview in May 2014 that he ‘admired’ Vladimir Putin

March 2014 Ms Hyslop holds another meeting with Mr Pritsepov. April 2014 Typhoon fighter jets are scrambled from RAF Leuchars to intercept two Russian TU-95 bombers approaching Scotland. The SNP attacks Westminster’s decision to turn Leuchars into an army base. RIA Novosti reveals that political thinker Noam Chomsky supports a Yes vote and quotes an unnamed Scottish Government official saying that Scotland will reclaim its historic maritime boundary from England. Russia annexes the Crimea and holds a contentious referendum. A recorded telephone conversation supposedly between two Russian diplomats is posted on YouTube. Igor Chubarov, ambassador to Eritrea, says: “We’ve got Crimea, but that’s not f***ing all folks. In the future we’ll damn well take your Catalonia and Venice, and also Scotland and Alaska.” May 2014 Alex Salmond admits in a GQ interview that he “admired” Vladimir Putin and says: “He’s restored a substantial part of Russian pride and that must be a good thing.”

GETTY First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon

June 2014 RIA Novosti claims BBC Scotland is “nakedly campaigning for a No vote”, while another headline claims an independent Scotland will maintain EU membership. The news agency also speaks to Henry McLeish, who says “time is running out” for the No campaign. The BBC reveals that Russian hackers have launched a massive cybercrime campaign against Scottish businesses, with councils and other public bodies also targeted. July 2014 Feargal Dalton, a former Royal Navy submarine commander and SNP councillor, tells RIA Novosti the anti-Scottish independence propaganda released by the MOD is “disgraceful”. Scotland’s first space satellite is launched aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket and the UK Government withdraws support for the Russia Year of Culture in protest at the situation in Ukraine. Scottish ministers follow suit. August 2014 RIA Novosti launches a blitz of pro-independence stories, including claims that Scotland would be treated as a “special case” for EU membership, that the economic benefits of the Faslane naval base are “overplayed”, that the debate over currency is a “massive red herring”, that a free health service would be “at risk” after a No vote and that voting No would spell the end of the Scotland football team.

GETTY David Cameron intervened to stop Outlander being shown before the vote say Wikileaks emails