TASS , RIA Novosti , Rossiyskaya Gazeta and other media reported that more than 10,000 Britons allegedly demanded a referendum on the lifting of sanctions against Russia imposed in connection with the war in Ukraine. The corresponding petitionis posted on the website of the British Parliament.
“The compilers of the petition note that London's policy towards the Russian Federation and Ukraine causes economic damage to the people of Great Britain. The authors of the text called on the British government to organize a national referendum in the next six months on the issue of revising the chosen foreign policy, or immediately “reject economically suicidal sanctions against Russia, which caused a rise in energy prices, and multibillion-dollar arms supplies to Ukraine.”
In their opinion, the British authorities should take the position of a “neutral conciliator” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. If the petition gains more than 100,000 signatures, then it will be discussed in the parliament of the kingdom,” writes TASS.
Such a petition is indeed on the website of the British Parliament in the "petitions" section, at the moment it has been signed by about 12 thousand people. That's just, although formally only citizens of the UK should sign it, there is no verification on the site. It is enough to check the box "I am a citizen or resident of the UK" and verify your email. Thus, this mechanism is in no way protected from vote cheating.
You can also view data on countries that were noted by those who signed the petition. Although most of them indicated different British localities (however, any index valid in the country can be entered for this), many "British" indicated a wide variety of countries of residence – for example, Burundi, Côte d'Ivoire, Russia and the Vatican.
Anyone can also post a petition on the Parliament website. It will be published if at least five people support it. In this case, the author of the petition was Anthony Webber. He calls himself a political commentator, regularly gives interviews to RT and Solovyov Live , repeating the main theses of Kremlin propaganda: the West allegedly lost by supporting Ukraine and imposing sanctions against Russia, the British economy is on the verge of collapse, Zelensky is a US puppet, etc. He writes the same thing on Twitter. By the way, a funny detail: Webber's petition to lift anti-Russian sanctions was actively promoted , among other things, by the Wagner PMC Telegram channels.
Judging by Webber's biography, his career took off in 1991-2004, when he was a member of the Guernsey Parliament – these are several Channel Islands controlled by the British crown, which are not part of the UK. After that, Webber is remembered for campaigning for Brexit, and also created a small organization called the National Alliance, which opposed the mask regime and vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Apparently, the movement was not popular: its website does not work, and only 72 followers on Twitter.
It should be noted that, indeed, any petition on the website of the British Parliament, which received more than 10 thousand votes, must be answered by the government. However, TASS and Rossiyskaya Gazeta erroneously claim that if the number of votes exceeds 100,000, the possibility of such a referendum will be discussed in parliament. In fact, in this case, the petition will only be “considered for discussion.” And given that its text is formulated in the best traditions of Russian propaganda, there is no doubt that the British MPs will simply ignore it.
