The British Foreign Office said on Sunday that Russia was using a troll factory to spread misinformation about the war in Ukraine on social media and to target politicians in various countries, including Britain and South Africa. Britain cited a UK-funded expert study which it did not publish. He said the investigation revealed how the Kremlin’s misinformation campaign was designed to manipulate international public opinion about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, strengthen its support and recruit new sympathizers. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from the fascists. Ukraine and the West say the fascist claim is unfounded and that the war is an unprovoked offensive. Russia says the Western media has provided an overly partial account of the war, largely ignoring Moscow’s concerns about NATO enlargement and what it says is the persecution of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine, which Kyiv has denied. “We can not allow the Kremlin and its shady troll farms to invade our websites with their lies about Putin’s illegal war,” said Foreign Minister Liz Tras in a statement. “The UK government has alerted its international partners and will continue to work closely with allies and media platforms to undermine Russian intelligence operations.” Moscow has denied previous allegations by Western countries about misinformation campaigns, such as Washington accusing Russia of trying to interfere in the 2016 US presidential election. Britain said the investigation showed that the troll factory was using the Telegram to recruit and coordinate new supporters who then targeted the Kremlin critics’ social media profiles, sending them unsolicited comments in favor of President Vladimir Putin. . Among their targets were senior British ministers and other world leaders, Britain said, adding that traces of the operation had been found on eight social media platforms, including Telegram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. (Report by Kylie MacLellan · Edited by Frances Kerry)
