Britain ‘was warned of Russian meddling in Chagos deal’

The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) think tank has noted that Russia “carried out significant diplomatic legwork” to ensure Mauritius had support for its legal claim to the Chagos Islands. “Russia saw this issue as a way of imposing costs on the UK, and it seems to have succeeded,” they said. Ed Arnold, senior research fellow for European security at RUSI said this “fits with the wider Russian aims to supplant the rules-based national order. The rough intent is to destabilise and embarrass the West”. He added: “The worry is that this deal benefits China – so in this case it might be that the Kremlin is actually doing Beijing a favour by acting on their behalf.”