Stewart McDonald said that the nationalist grassroots and some senior politicians were too quick to dismiss evidence of infiltration

Russia is sowing division and confusion in the Scottish independence campaign, the SNP’s defence spokesman has warned.

Stewart McDonald said that the nationalist grassroots and some senior politicians were too quick to dismiss evidence of infiltration.

He also accused the Kremlin-backed broadcasters RT and Sputnik of being a “malign influence” alongside online fake news and propaganda. The SNP’s defence team has been meeting ambassadors and defence attachés from around Europe to share intelligence on how to boost Scotland’s cyber-resilience.

Mr McDonald said: “It is the stated foreign policy objective of Russia to find opportunities to sow division and confusion and exploit it in a malign way. Russia Today [RT] is openly an arm of that architecture. Its own director has stated that on the record.