Thread by @TheGolem_

THREAD: How a visit by a senior @JeremyCorbyn staffer to a little known cultural centre in Brixton illustrates how continuing ideological sympathies makes @UKLabour a national security liability with hostile foreign states. /1

Back in March of this year, Laura Murray, @UKLabour’s current head of complaints, attended a talk at the Society for Co-operation in Russian and Soviet Studies (SCRSS). Here she is at the society standing in front of an image of Lenin. /2

The SCRSS formerly known as the ‘Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR’ was set up in 1924 with the aim of fostering cultural and scientific ties between individuals in the USSR and the UK. Some early members included Virginia Woolf and J.A. Hobson. /3

It is important to note that the society was not unique to the UK, and multiple branches existed across the world including in Soviet countries also. A @CIA report from 1957 says of the societies that “primarily they are propaganda outlets which reflect Soviet ideas”. /4

Notably the same report highlighted the “covert exploitation” of these societies by Soviet intelligence agencies and that “within the leadership of the societies there is frequently a highly-trusted Communist…who collaborates with Soviet intelligence”. /5

That @CIA report can be read here -cia.gov/library/readin…. Put simply these societies served a dual purpose, 1 - to promote the USSR across the world, often within the circles of the intelligentsia. 2 - to provide a valuable intelligence resource for the Soviet state. /6

So what about the SCRSS today and what of Laura Murray’s visit to the society in March? /7

The society still carries out many of its original functions, namely (as they state on their website) to promote "knowledge of the culture, language and history of Russia and the former Soviet Union" as well as to "facilitate cultural contacts between the UK and Russia". /8

Notably the Society works with the Rossotrudnichestvo, ‘The Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation’, the agency operates under the jurisdiction of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. /9

The website of the UK-branch of the Rossotrudnichestvo states that their representative office cooperates with the SCRSS, the same SCRSS that Murray visited back in March. /10

So who really are the Rossotrudnichestvo and why are they a problem? Last year @HJS_Org released a report exploring the Russian intelligence apparatus in the UK, it states that the Rossotrudnichestvo is currently home to a number of ‘undeclared intelligence officers’. /11

The report can be read here - henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/upl… /12

Interestingly in the Trump dossier produced by former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, he labels the Rossotrudnichestvo a "parastatal" organisation and alleges that it was "used as a cover" for the alleged meeting between Michael Cohen and Kremlin officials. /13

Moreover, in 2013 the Rossotrudnichestvo was allegedly investigated by the FBI due to claims that they may have been attempting to recruit young Americans as Russian intelligence assets. Read more on that here - motherjones.com/politics/2013/… /14

Further evidence of how the Rossotrudnichestvo and SCRSS co-operate here in the UK includes a jointly organised conference in 2014, as well as being labelled as partner organisations by the SCRSS themselves. /15

Murray’s visit to the SCRSS in March demonstrates the real-life vulnerability of the ideological sympathies that many at the top of @UKLabour now hold. A reminder that her father, Andrew Murray, was a longstanding senior member of the Stalinist 'Communist Party of Britain'. /16

These ideological sympathies now exist at the very top of @UKLabour and run far beyond just the Murray family. It should be, and probably is, a profound and ongoing source of deep concern for British and allied intelligence agencies. END