Oh, I have no doubt in my mind that Russia put their thumb on the balance to try and move things towards Brexit - geostrategically it makes sense for them to do so.

Most definitely America did the same - again it makes sense for the nation were many politicians saw the EU as an adversary and who lost tons of influence in Europe when the countries pooled together into forming the EU (especially amongst small countries, which used to be a kicking ball for great powers).

Quite possibly China did too - weakening an adversary Trade coalition makes sense for them.

It's just that their ability to influence Britain and Britons is minuscule compare to the influence of Britain's own elites, especially the ones who own newspapers that have been spouting rabid far-right bullshit for decades.

Brexit was build in Britain layer by layer over the last 3 decades or so, it wasn't just cast into being in an otherwise perfect country by nasty Russian magicians.

The point I'm making is that in this Russia is an excuse to, as usual, move people's attention away from far more powerful people in Britain and from the politicians who willingly act as their minions.

Further, having seen Brexit first hand as an immigrant in Britain, the "blame Russia" from the politicians given the huge amounts of Jingoism in Britain (much more than other European countries I lived in) stinks with the same smell as the "blame the EU" so beloved by politicians in both New Labour and the Tory Party before Brexit and shares the same ideological foundations as "blame immigrants" - blame foreigners so that the 100% British people that did most of it suffer no repercussions for their actions.

I'm not denying that Russia put their thumb on the balance, I'm saying that this shit has long been brewing in a country were amongst other things it was for years common for politicians from both main parties to blame the ills of the country on the EU.

In the "List of people who are to blame for Brexit", Britons come first, then far behind comes America and then Russia.

I lived in the bloody place since before the 2008 Crash and throughout the whole Brexit thing and for me as an EU immigrant there it was painfully obvious that the Media and Politicians kept pushing Nationalistic Delusions Of Grandeur, anti-immigration and anti-EU, all of which then used very openly by Tory Party politicians to weave ideas such as that EU regulations where what was stopping Britain from recovery after the Crash (and beyond, to almost a British version of the MAGA ideation), that EU immigrants were the ones making cost of living go up and keeping salaries low and that when Britain left the EU the EU would give Britain the same rights as an EU member but without the obligations.

That shit was coming out of TVs, Newspapers and the mouths of British politicians.