Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the total value of Russian Central Bank assets held in the UK.
Answered by Lord Livermore - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Assets belonging to the Central Bank of Russia have been immobilised in the UK and across the G7 through sanctions.
It is important any decision to release detail about the assets is taken on a collective G7 basis.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support cross‑government responses to hybrid activities from Russia.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Strategic Defence Review highlights the breadth and depth of threats posed by hybrid activity.
Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat and it seeks to take advantage of the difficulty of attributing hybrid attacks through covert methods and proxies.
Many hybrid threats are not military in nature and therefore a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach is essential. The Ministry of Defence works in close collaboration with other Government Departments and with our allies and partners to address shared threats below the threshold of armed conflict.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to protect UK citizens and critical infrastructure from hybrid threats from Russia.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Russian State poses an acute and direct threat to the UK and our allies. This includes their ongoing campaign of hybrid activity in Europe in response to our continuing diplomatic support of Ukraine.
The UK takes the threat from the Russian State extremely seriously and has responded to and called out Russian aggression wherever it occurs. Since 2018, this includes the expulsion of 24 Russian intelligence officers; the sanctioning of over 2,900 individuals, entities and ships; creating several new sanctions regimes; and the targeting of Russian illicit finance.
The government has strengthened the UK's protective security to address vulnerabilities that expose our people and infrastructure to physical and security risks. We are working alongside the National Protective Security Authority to keep citizens safe through developing protective security advice for government and industry.
Under the National Security Act 2023, the UK is an even harder target for states who seek to conduct hostile acts against the UK, steal our information for commercial advantage, or covertly interfere in our society. This will ensure our law enforcement agencies can make best use of new tools to counter sabotage and other state threats offences against our CNI.
Until the Russian Government stops its destabilising activity, we will actively deter and defend against the full spectrum of threats emanating from Russia.
We will continue working in partnership with our allies to bring our full capabilities to bear against those who seek to threaten our values, harm our citizens, and undermine our collective security.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the UK’s previous diplomatic responses to the Russian Federation’s hybrid activities.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Foreign Secretary's Locarno Centenary speech on 7 December, and to the evidence I gave to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 6 January, links to both of which can be found below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-foreign-secretarys-locarno-centenary-speech
https://committees.parliament.uk/event/26037/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the threat posed by the Russian Federation’s hybrid activities against the United Kingdom.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Foreign Secretary's Locarno Centenary speech on 7 December, and to the evidence I gave to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 6 January, links to both of which can be found below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-foreign-secretarys-locarno-centenary-speech
https://committees.parliament.uk/event/26037/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with international partners on hybrid threats from Russia.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the Foreign Secretary's Locarno Centenary speech on 7 December, and to the evidence I gave to the Foreign Affairs Committee on 6 January, links to both of which can be found below:
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/the-foreign-secretarys-locarno-centenary-speech
https://committees.parliament.uk/event/26037/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session/
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of foreign state influence on UK political activity in the period surrounding the 2016 EU Referendum.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The UK Government takes issues of foreign interference or attempts to intervene in democratic processes very seriously.
Successive governments have not seen any evidence of successful foreign interference in the European Union referendum. The Electoral Commission’s report published in September 2016 on the referendum stated that the poll was delivered without any major issues and there was a clear and timely final result.
However, we recognise the enduring and significant threat that Russia poses to UK democracy and remain committed to defending the UK from all forms of foreign interference.
The Government’s Defending Democracy Taskforce regularly engages and works with devolved governments and parliaments on threats facing our democracy including foreign interference. The taskforce will be used to coordinate the delivery of the Government’s Counter Political Interference and Espionage Action Plan. This action plan will deliver a protective security campaign to support those at risk to recognise, resist and report attempts of foreign interference, strengthen existing legislation to mitigate the threat, and coordinate action to disrupt the use of proxy actors.
The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and I commissioned an independent review on 16 January into foreign financial interference in UK politics. This review will assess finance and bribery rules and how to reduce risk of foreign interference, building on new rules set out in the Elections Strategy announced in July 2025.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of hybrid threats from the Russian Federation on defence policy.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Strategic Defence Review highlights the breadth and depth of threats posed by hybrid activity.
Russia remains the most pressing and immediate threat and it seeks to take advantage of the difficulty of attributing hybrid attacks through covert methods and proxies.
Many hybrid threats are not military in nature and therefore a whole-of-Government and whole-of-society approach is essential. The Ministry of Defence works in close collaboration with other Government Departments and with our allies and partners to address shared threats below the threshold of armed conflict.
Asked by: James McMurdock (Independent - South Basildon and East Thurrock)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the Russian Federation's hybrid activities on domestic security.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Russian State poses an acute and direct threat to the UK and our allies. This includes their ongoing campaign of hybrid activity in Europe in response to our continuing diplomatic support of Ukraine.
The UK takes the threat from the Russian State extremely seriously and has responded to and called out Russian aggression wherever it occurs. Since 2018, this includes the expulsion of 24 Russian intelligence officers; the sanctioning of over 2,900 individuals, entities and ships; creating several new sanctions regimes; and the targeting of Russian illicit finance.
The government has strengthened the UK’s protective security to address vulnerabilities that expose our people and infrastructure to physical and security risks. We are working alongside the National Protective Security Authority to keep citizens safe through developing protective security advice for government and industry.
Under the National Security Act 2023, the UK is an even harder target for states who seek to conduct hostile acts against the UK, steal our information for commercial advantage, or covertly interfere in our society. This will ensure our law enforcement agencies can make best use of new tools to counter sabotage and other state threats offences against our CNI.
Until the Russian Government stops its destabilising activity, we will actively deter and defend against the full spectrum of threats emanating from Russia.
We will continue working in partnership with our allies to bring our full capabilities to bear against those who seek to threaten our values, harm our citizens, and undermine our collective security.
Asked by: Graeme Downie (Labour - Dunfermline and Dollar)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with allies in the High North on the threat posed by Russia’s arctic naval modernisation programme.
Answered by Al Carns - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for Veterans)
The Ministry of Defence keeps Russian military capabilities and investment under continuous review. We work closely with our NATO Allies to understand the implications of Russian military capability development for Alliance security. NATO is strengthening its deterrence and defence as a result of the increasing threat from Russia and will continue to adapt as necessary.