The United Kingdom targeted a Russian disinformation campaign by imposing sanctions on six entities and individuals who were involved in creating fake news sites targeting Ukraine.
According to a statement released by the UK government on 28 October, sanctions were imposed on three individuals and entities involved in Russia’s disinformation campaign against Ukraine.
The Kremlin uses sophisticated disinformation campaigns in Western countries, creating mirror versions of news websites and social media profiles. This makes it difficult for readers from identifying genuine sources. Russia funds fake sites and automated accounts to spread state-backed narratives through organizations such as the Social Design Agency.
According to European Pravda the sanctions are aimed at the Social Design Agency (SDA), whose funding has been revealed by international journalistic investigations to be received from the Kremlin in order to promote its propaganda to the West.
Other entities that are subject to restrictions include the Structure Group of companies, linked to SDA, and the autonomous non profit organization Dialog.
The sanctions also apply their leaders: Ilya Gamashidze Nikolai Tupikin and Andrei Perla.
These individuals are said to be involved in Russia’s disinformation campaign, codenamed Doppelganger. This operation creates clones and social media pages of legitimate websites to present as authentic sources of information.
The UK government’s statement states that “despite Russia pouring money into malicious organizations, their lies always fail online with bots and false websites receiving limited engagement.”
The United States took similar measures in early September when they imposed sanctions against the Kremlin disinformation network including ANO Dialog, its subsidiary ANO Dialog Regions, and others.
The US Treasury Department has also announced blockade sanctions against the Russian media group “Rossiya Segodnya”, and its general director Dmitry Kiselev.
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