UK Places Russia on Highest Tier of Foreign Influence Register

On 1 April 2025, Reuters report­ed that Britain has announced it will place any­one work­ing for the Russ­ian state on the high­est tier of its upcom­ing For­eign Influ­ence Reg­is­tra­tion Scheme. The arti­cle begins:

LONDON, April 1 (Reuters) — Britain said on Tues­day it would place any­one work­ing for the Russ­ian state on the high­est tier of its upcom­ing For­eign Influ­ence Reg­is­tra­tion Scheme, requir­ing Moscow to reg­is­ter all efforts to exert polit­i­cal influ­ence in the UK. Ties between Moscow and Lon­don are at a low over Britain’s sup­port for Ukraine fol­low­ing Rus­si­a’s inva­sion of its neigh­bour. Secu­ri­ty min­is­ter Dan Jarvis said Russ­ian Pres­i­dent Vladimir Putin, gov­ern­ment agen­cies, armed forces, intel­li­gence ser­vices and a num­ber of polit­i­cal par­ties would be required to reg­is­ter under the scheme, which will begin on July 1. “Rus­sia presents an acute threat to UK nation­al secu­ri­ty,” Jarvis told par­lia­ment, cit­ing espi­onage, arson and cyber attacks and the tar­get­ing of law­mak­ers. NATO and West­ern intel­li­gence ser­vices have warned that Rus­sia is behind a grow­ing num­ber of hos­tile activ­i­ties across the Euro-Atlantic area, rang­ing from repeat­ed cyber attacks to arson — all of which Rus­sia denies…

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Key Points:

• Britain’s new reg­is­tra­tion scheme will require all Russ­ian state enti­ties to declare polit­i­cal influ­ence activ­i­ties in the UK start­ing July 1.
• Secu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Dan Jarvis cit­ed espi­onage, arson, cyber attacks and tar­get­ing law­mak­ers as evi­dence Rus­sia pos­es an “acute threat” to UK security.
• The “enhanced tier” des­ig­na­tion tar­gets for­eign enti­ties pos­ing secu­ri­ty risks, with non-com­pli­ance becom­ing a crim­i­nal offense under the new scheme.
• Iran’s state enti­ties and Rev­o­lu­tion­ary Guard Corps were also placed on the enhanced tier ear­li­er this month for aggres­sive activ­i­ties against UK targets.

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