UK sanctions Russian disinformation network targeting Ukraine support
The United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (‘FCDO’) announced new sanctions on three Russian agencies and their leadership figures, accusing them of coordinated disinformation campaigns ‘to undermine and destabilise Ukraine and its democracy.’
The Social Design Agency (‘SDA’), which allegedly receives direct funding from the Russian government, along with its partner companies Structura and ANO DIALOG, were targeted in the latest round of sanctions, announced in a 28 October media statement.
The FCDO identified these organisations as being behind the ‘Doppelganger’ network, which operates at least 120 websites that impersonate legitimate news and government sites.
The sanctions also target three individuals: SDA founder Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, SDA CEO Nikolay Aleksandrovich Tupikin (who also owns Structura) and SDA Project Director Andrey Naumovich Perla.
‘Today’s sanctions send a clear message: we will not tolerate your lies and interference, and we are coming after you,’ said UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
‘This year, the SDA also attempted to incite protests in half a dozen European countries,’ the FCDO statement said. Despite significant Russian funding, these efforts have largely failed to gain traction, forcing the organisation to consider purchasing social media engagement to boost their reach, it explained.
The network employs sophisticated tactics to evade detection, including the use of deepfake material and careful avoidance of trigger words that might alert content moderation systems. Their content is distributed in multiple languages, including English, German and French.
‘The US, Canada, France, European External Action Service (EEAS), Germany and Australia join us in calling out the SDA’s underhand activity globally,’ the statement said, adding that the network has previously been identified by Meta as conducting global information operations aimed at weakening support for Ukraine.
In Washington, the US State Department welcomed the UK action as ‘an important contribution to protecting the integrity of our global information environment.’
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-sanctions-putins-interference-actors
