Dominic Raab has confirmed what everybody already knew: Vladimir Putin’s spies are busy trying to interfere in British democracy. On Thursday the foreign secretary laid out details of how Moscow hackers sought to meddle in last December’s general election by leaking details of confidential US-UK trade talks. The apparent beneficiary was Jeremy Corbyn. The then Labour leader produced the stolen document as proof that the NHS was “on the table” in negotiations with Washington. As Moscow plots go, the hack was pretty low-key. For some time the dossier, posted on Reddit, was ignored until it eventually found its way into the media ecosystem. The spies who disseminated it are believed to work for Russia’s foreign intelligence agency, the SVR. This outfit has a number of names, including Cozy Bear, APT29 and the Dukes. The hackers are veterans of numerous operations, including the audacious cyber-raid in 2016 against Democratic party servers and the then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Raab’s announcement confirms that Putin is actively seeking to damage and disrupt UK politics. But the timing of the disclosure is curious. Downing Street revealed the news hours after parliament’s new intelligence and security committee – headed not by Boris Johnson’s preferred candidate, Chris Grayling, but by the now former Tory Julian Lewis – agreed to release a long-awaited Russia report. That will now be published next week. In the meantime, Raab’s move looks designed to give the impression that the Russians back Labour. It’s true that in cold war times the KGB covertly supported western communist parties, funnelling them large amounts of cash. Its most famous double agents, the Cambridge spies, were idealistic communists. But in recent years Putin’s preferred vector of influence has been the anti-EU far right. His agents have supported radical populist movements across Europe and beyond. Moscow has lent millions of euros to the party run by France’s Marine Le Pen. The Kremlin and its emissaries have built up strategic alliances with Eurosceptic forces in a host of western countries, including Italy, Austria and Germany. And the UK. What Raab failed to mention is that the Kremlin ran a significant espionage operation in 2016 in support of Brexit. It took place at the same time as Russia’s sweeping and systematic campaign across the pond to help make Donald Trump president. The two spy dramas overlapped. They often featured the same operatives and the same social media trolls, sitting in an office in St Petersburg. Downing Street aides downplayed the Russia report on Thursday. They said it contains little new. This may well be correct. Nonetheless, their apparent insouciance sits oddly with recent events. Johnson has burned through much political capital by trying to keep the report secret. His treatment of Lewis, kicked out of the Conservative party on Wednesday for outwitting Grayling, was nothing less than vengeful. That was the view of the former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, at least. There are several areas of potential embarrassment for Downing Street that may explain the prime minister’s behaviour. One of the witnesses who gave evidence to the ISC in its old incarnation was the former intelligence officer Christopher Steele, who headed MI6’s Russia desk. In 2006 he led the investigation into the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, killed by two Moscow assassins using a cup of radioactive tea. In a seven-page memo seen by the Guardian, Steele said he alerted British intelligence professionals in late 2016 to the possibility that the Russians had compromised Trump. The then prime minister, Theresa May, and Johnson as foreign secretary were briefed on this. But they allegedly chose not to investigate further, fearful of Trump’s reaction. Steele also told the ISC there were “indications” that Moscow had interfered in pro-leave groups. The then government didn’t pursue this either. Instead, according to Steele, it “threw a blanket” over both claims, putting party political interest and a UK-US trade deal above national security. More than their predecessors, May and Johnson were unwilling to call out Russian meddling, he suggested. It is unclear how much of Steele’s evidence has made its way into the final report. Some of it may appear in a classified annexe, shared only within Whitehall. The annexe may also address another tricky area for the government: party funding. Moscow-linked donors have – legally – contributed millions to the Conservative party over the past decade, and the cash has continued to roll in following Johnson’s election win. Putin, since becoming president two decades ago, has played a weak hand with exceptional skill. His goal, as ever, is to undermine the enemy and to exploit fissures within western societies. Raab’s announcement is belated acknowledgement of this fact. He now needs to admit that Russian interference is a cross-party problem and that the Conservatives have also been its beneficiary.