They [Russia] created fake news websites which they used to drive a wedge into Ukraine and push the two halves of the country apart. ibid.
The trolls spent years tracking divisions in American society. They knew that immigration and race were two of our deepest wounds. ibid.
In a display of Russian cyber power, the GRU hacked into the controls of the Ukrainian power grids and command and distribution centres to shut them down. ibid.
Russian government hackers penetrated DNS, stole opposition research on Trump. ibid. The Washington Post online article
‘Email’ Dominates What Americans Have Heard About Clinton. ibid. Gallup online article 19 September 2016
‘We did nothing wrong. It was all bullshit.’ Agents of Chaos II, Trump
Sater went to work in the only industry less regulated than Wall Street – real estate. And that’s where he met Donald Trump: ‘You cannot operate there [Russia] without what they call a roof – which is protection from somebody.’ ibid.
‘We’re going to have a great relationship with Putin and Russia.’ ibid. Trump
Was Trump running to win or was he running just to make more money? ibid.
They brought his Miss Universe contest to Moscow in 2013. ibid.
Russia really did have dirt to dish … ‘The hackers target the DNC and Hillary Clinton.’ ibid.
NBC has learnt this week from court documents, [Paul] Manfort [Trump’s campaign chairman, later fired] has business connections to two oligarchs with ties to the Russian Mafia; ibid.
US Officially Accuses Russia of Political Hacks. ibid. CNN news banner 17 September
Russia: a country with a special place in the British psyche. For centuries Russia has both intrigued and frightened us. There are aspects of Russia we love, but we feel somehow uneasy in her company, unsure of how she will react. And perhaps wary of a certain barbarism in her makeup. Timeshift: Watching the Russians with Stella Rimington, BBC 2020
When I started working at MI5, there was the constant need to combat the activities of the Soviet Intelligence Services. Russia was unscrupulous, expansionist, devious. Russia was the enemy. With the back of the Soviet Union we should have seen the back of all that. ibid.
Was Russophobia different from other types of xenophobia in Britain? ibid.
[David] Urquhart was a consummate self-publicist. He published violently anti-Russian pamphlets in his own newspapers. He developed an almost cult-like following. ibid.
Karl Marx was stoking anti-Russian feeling. ibid.
At the same time as this influx of Russian culture came to Britain, a tide of Jewish immigrants reached our shores, fleeing heightened persecution in Russia … Most Jewish refugees seeking asylum from Russian in Britain ended up in the east end of London. ibid.
Russian Revolutionists Meet Secretly in a Church Hall. ibid. The Daily Mirror front page Thursday 16 May 1907
The Fifth Congress drew crowds eager to catch sight of a real revolutionary. The delegates were even invited to a reception in Chelsea where they were toasted by future Labour prime minister Ramsay MacDonald. ibid.
The Siege of Sidney Street: The most famous case began with an attempted robbery of a jeweller’s shop in Houndsditch and the murder of three policemen … Police cornered two men on the first floor of 100 Sidney Street in East London … ‘They weren’t Russians, they were Latvians … They thought they were Russians.’ ibid. Stella with local historian
Bolshevism was described by politicians and generals as a spreading, infectious cancer. Britain helped the anti-Bolshevic forces in the civil war that followed the revolution but the move was unpopular so soon after World War I. ibid.
In 1920 the Communist Party of Great Britain was founded. ibid.
In 1931 Special Branch, who’d kept an eye on Bolshevism in the civilian population since the Russian Revolution, handed over responsibility to MI5, re-titled the Security Service. ibid.
The 1960s cemented another enduring image of the Soviet Union – as a nation of spies. ibid.
There is one nation that perhaps more than any other has been witness to a thousand years of explosive drama all concealed behind an iron curtain of intrigue and mystery: Russia. Russia v The World, Channel 5 2021
This is a country that has always been pushing outwards. It covers one-eighth of all the land on Earth, stretching across the whole of northern Asia and the eastern third of Europe. ibid.
Ivan the Terrible 1530-1583: While he may have been terrible, this was a strong leader who would change Russia for ever. ibid.
A roll-call of some of history’s most notorious leaders … Tsars: a dynasty of 18 Romanovs would take to the Russia throne over 300 years and each would leave a mark. ibid.
48,173. This was still a country whose population was made up overwhelmingly of peasants, and the Tsars wielded their considerable power over a vast empire that extended across three continents. ibid.
So how and why in Russia has Stalin’s image been gradually rehabilitated from bloody dictator to efficient leader? ibid.
Russia: homophobia is rife ... Even the law is beginning to target gays. Stephen Fry, Out There II, BBC 2013
One in every four gay teens here has attempted suicide. ibid.
The polished granite mausoleum behind them holds the mortal remains of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. In the Soviet era his image was preserved and embalmed with the same reverence as his body. Timewatch: Lenin’s Secret Files, BBC 1997
The full weight of Soviet propaganda was deployed to promote a personality cult around Lenin. ibid.
It was he who insisted the Bolsheviks seize power by armed force. ibid.
The violent mood swings caused by Lenin’s brain condition may have influenced the ruthlessness and cruelty with which the communist regime was established. ibid.
The career of Josef Stalin, the man of steel, is a succession of waves of terror. First, following the death of communist leader Lenin, Stalin rose to power by plotting against and eventually eliminating his political rivals. Second, his ruthlessly imposed policy of collective farms starved ten million to death in the early 1930s. Third, his purges later that decade killed and exiled millions more and tightened his grip on power. Fourth, in World War II he defeated Hitler at the cost of twenty-fix million Soviet lives but afterwards executed many Russian heroes. And in 1953 Stalin was preparing for a final wave of terror when suddenly he died. Timewatch: Who Killed Stalin? BBC 2005
Compiled by the doctors who watched Stalin slowly die, was this incredibly detailed file suppressed because it contains details of Stalin’s illness that those surrounding him needed to keep secret? ibid.
Why did the ultra paranoid leader leave himself vulnerable by telling his bodyguards to go to bed? Why did his most senior ministers deprive Stalin of medical assistance for twelve hours? And why did the official announcement of his death omit crucial medial details? ibid.
The archive now further raises the prospect of murder. ibid.
Britain’s relationship with Russia has been marked by centuries of suspicion. In the last hundred years they’ve been friends and foe. They’ve saved our skins and terrified us with the thought of total annihilation. A Timewatch Guide: Russia: A Century of Suspicion, Professor Saul David, BBC 2018
The Cold War took off into outer space. ibid.
A balanced view of Russia was generally absent from our screens. Part of the problem was lack of access. ibid.
The horrific figure of Stalin still haunts our perception of Russia. ibid.
Tonight: with the World Cup just a month away we go inside the world of Russian football. With its reputation for violence and racism we ask what are England fans likely to face? Tonight: Russia’s World Cup Gangs, ITV 2018
One of the concerns ahead of the World Cup is whether such [racist] abuse will mar the tournament. ibid.
It is not Russian military power which is threatening us, it is Russian political power. George Kennan, October 1947
But you – you need to keep the Russian myth alive to maintain your military-industrial complex. The Good Shepherd 2006 ***** starring Matt Damon & Angelina Jolie & Robert de Niro & Alec Baldwin & William Hurt & Joe Pesci & John Turturro & Billy Crudup & Michael Gambon & John Sessions & Tammy Blanchard & Timothy Hutton et al, director Robert de Niro, defecting spy
He’s the world leader accused of personally approving murder on the streets of London. But is the president implicated in an assassination also responsible for theft on an extraordinary scale? Vladimir Putin has been accused of looting his own country. Panorama: Putin’s Secret Riches, BBC 2016
Action man, man of the people, and ruler of Russia: from the Ukraine to Syria Vladimir Putin’s influence is being felt. He’s faced countless accusations of corruption but still has record approval ratings in Russia. But should the Russian people trust Vladimir Putin? ibid.
So how rich is Vladimir Putin? … One journalist came up with a figure … ‘$40 billion.’ ibid.
Abramovich … He provided $203 million [for healthcare, re-rooted to Putin’s palace] … A gift that can be explained away; a $35 million yacht [2002] … The yacht was given to an offshore company: but the real owner is Vladimir Putin. ibid.
You can hardly blame Abramovich for wanting to keep on Putin’s good side. ibid.
Putin controls the super-rich in Russia. ibid.