Sturgeon must condemn Salmond Russia relationship

22 Jul 2020

Former Scottish Secretary David Mundell, Scottish Conservative MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale has condemned the former First Minister, Alex Salmond’s continuing relationship with the Russian state as ‘absolutely shameful.’

Speaking in the House of Commons this afternoon, Mr Mundell asked James Brokenshire MP, a Home Office Minister, “In the context of this report, does my right honourable friend agree with me that it is absolutely shameful that Alex Salmond, the former First Minister of Scotland remains in the pay of the Kremlin as an apparatchik for Russia Today and so few nationalists condemn him for it.”

RT or Russia Today is a Russian state-controlled TV network on which Alex Salmond hosts his own talk show “The Alex Salmond Show”.

The show is co-hosted and produced by fellow nationalist and former SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh.

David Mundell MP said:

“It is now abundantly clear that the RT network, controlled by the Russian state, is used to disrupt and destabilise other countries.

“As the Intelligence and Security Committee Report shows, the Russian state is a serious threat to our security and democracy so is it astonishing that Alex Salmond is still taking money from them.

“In the context of this damning report, there can be no justification for a former First Minister and leader of the SNP, and advocate of independence, to be working for the Russian state.

“And what’s just as concerning is the unwillingness of so many nationalists to call out this behaviour despite saying they have concerns about Russia.

“After the report was published we should have heard the First Minister speak out, so I now call on her and other leading nationalists to condemn Alex Salmond’s ongoing relationship with the Russian state in the strongest possible terms.”