Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of reports of Russia deploying (a) hybrid non-kinetic attacks and (b) irregular migration.

This Government condemns the growing recklessness of Russian aggression — both in Ukraine and through its hybrid activity across Europe. We are working closely with allies, including through NATO, to hold Russia to account; counter the threat from Putin’s regime; and strengthen our resilience to state threats (sometimes referred to as hybrid or non-kinetic threats).

The UK is taking robust action to defend the UK against state threats, including sanctioning the GRU (Russian military intelligence), exposing malicious cyber activity, and targeting illicit finance. This Government also placed Russia on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), meaning anyone working for the Russian state in the UK must declare what they are doing or risk jail.

The Government has recently introduced the National Security (State Threats) Bill, which will enable the Government to designate and disrupt organisations involved in state threats activity. New criminal sanctions will apply to designated bodies, including proxies, being used by states to carry out their hostile activities in the UK.

We are also working closely with international partners, including those at the EU’s external border, to understand and respond to the use of irregular migration as a tool of destabilisation. We continue to assess the risks posed by so‑called “weaponised migration” and coordinate responses accordingly – which has included sanctions on individuals and entities connected to human trafficking and the use of migration to undermine European security.