How Anti-Russia Rhetoric Is Used to Force Britain Stay in EU

According to the Guardian, Brexit would afford many political opportunities for Russia. Brussels’ breakup with London, which traditionally has one of the “toughest” positions toward Moscow, would undermine EU unity amid the Ukraine crisis, asserted Shaun Walker, the author of the piece. Additionally, after leaving the bloc the UK would desperately need new allies and Russia could take advantage of it, he added.

At the same time, the Moscow-based correspondent admitted that there are no signs that Russia is attempting to somehow influence the upcoming vote, only saying that there is “certainly an appreciation” of the UK’s possible fallout out of the bloc.

“Supposed Russian excitement” of a possible Brexit has been widely used by a myriad of politicians and publicists recently in their pro-European discourse. For instance, Belgium’s ex-Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt claimed that “the only leader who would stand to gain” in case of a Brexit would be Russia’s Vladimir Putin. British leader David Cameron has also put in his two cents, claiming that the Russian leader would benefit if Britons said ‘yes’ to exit from the EU.

Some analysts even blamed Moscow for its silence on the issue, alleging that there’s a secret plot behind its neutral position.

“If Britain leaves then this could create openings where Moscow could go to the British government and say: ‘You’ve got all these angry voices coming from the EU, who are offended with your decision to leave and you need friends; we are ready to cooperate,’” analyst Sergey Utkin told the Guardian.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the trend of using Russia in anti-Brexit rhetoric a “new phenomenon.”

"We have already got accustomed to the fact that the factor of Russia is a stable instrument in the US electoral campaign. But it is a new thing for us that the factor of Russia or President Putin is being used in the Brexit issue,” he said Wednesday. He added that Russia is open to cooperation with both the EU member states and the bloc in general.

The referendum in the UK will take place on June 23, 2016.