UK accuses Russian firms of stoking anti-Ukraine protests
U.K. says allies will join it in slapping sanctions on the Doppelganger network.
LONDON — The U.K. government sanctioned three Russian agencies and their senior executives, accusing them of orchestrating disinformation campaigns and seeking to fuel anti-Ukraine protests across Europe.
The Social Design Agency (SDA), Structura National Technologies, and Ano Dialog, alongside their directors, are accused of spearheading a “vast malign online network” commonly known as “Doppelganger.”
The network used “deceitful tactics… to mask the truth around Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and distract from the true nature of the war,” the U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement Monday.
It said the network was funded by the Kremlin to create and distribute disinformation, such as deepfakes and spoof news websites, across social media platforms in order to undermine democracy and weaken international support for Ukraine.
The SDA had also been tasked with inciting protests across Europe, but had struggled to gain traction online, with bots and fake sites only getting limited interaction, the U.K. Foreign Office said.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy branded Putin “so desperate to undermine European support for Ukraine he is now resorting to clumsy, ineffective efforts to try and stoke unrest.”
“We will not tolerate your lies and interference, and we are coming after you,” he added.
The Foreign Office said the U.K.’s measures would be followed by similar action by the United States, European Union, Canada, and Australia in the coming weeks.
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