Three Russian agencies and three senior figures who are
attempting to undermine and destabilise Ukraine and its democracy
have been sanctioned today by the UK.
The Social Design Agency (SDA) is tasked and funded directly by
the Russian State, and along with its partner company Structura,
has attempted to deliver a series of interference operations
designed to undermine democracy and weaken international support
for Ukraine.
This year, the SDA also attempted to incite protests in half a
dozen European countries. However, despite Russian pouring money
into these malign organisations' interference activities, their
lies have consistently struggled online, with bots and fake sites
getting limited interaction. This has forced the SDA to consider
buying social media views.
The US, EU, Canada and Australia [tbc pending domestic final
clearances] are also making public statements on the SDA, calling
out their underhand activity globally, with further actions by
international partners planned in the coming
weeks.
The Foreign Secretary, ,
said:
“Putin is so desperate to undermine European support for Ukraine
he is now resorting to clumsy, ineffective efforts to try and
stoke unrest.
“Today's sanctions send a clear message; we will not tolerate
your lies and interference, and we are coming after
you.
“Putin's desperate attempts to divide us will fail. We will
constrain the Kremlin, and stand with Ukraine for as long as it
takes”.
These firms and their leadership are responsible for a vast
malign online network, also commonly known as Doppelganger, which
plagues social media with fake posts, counterfeit documents and
deepfake material. These deceitful tactics are designed to mask
the truth around Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and
distract from the true nature of the war. Their murky actions are
part of a co-ordinated attempt to use deceptive information
operations to undermine democracy in pursuit of their
aims.
These new sanctions demonstrate that no matter how desperate the
Russian interference activity has become, the UK is committed to
taking action against Russian information manipulation. We will
continue to bear down on anyone conducting such activities on
behalf of SDA.
Notes to Editors:
The full list of those sanctioned today is:
- PR agency Social Design Agency (SDA).
- PR agency Structura National
Technologies.
- Ilya Andreevich GAMBASHIDZE, the founder of
SDA.
- Nikolay Aleksandrovich TUPIKIN, the CEO of SDA and owner of
Structura.
- Andrey Naumovich PERLA, SDA Project
Director.
These firms are responsible for a vast malign online network,
commonly known as Doppelganger. Content including fake posts,
counterfeit documents and deepfake material has been pushed out
to audiences in English, German and French through a complex
online network. The SDA has crafted a web of at least 120 sites
spoofing existing news and government websites, towards which it
deceptively redirects unsuspecting social media users. Tactics
included avoiding common trigger words to circumvent content
moderation tools and evade account takedowns. We are working with
social media platforms to ensure they are aware of this
activity.
Our international partners have also previously exposed
Doppelganger's malign interference networks, including France and
the EEAS. As part of the monitoring and analysis for the 2024
European Parliament Elections. The European External Action
Service has detected that an Doppelganger / RRN Media operation
actively promoted Russian narratives to disrupt and interfere
with the electoral process. This network was previously
attributed by META to the SDA and revealed to be running global
information operations aimed at weakening support for Ukraine.
France has exposed these Russian actors in June 2023 through the
publication of a report by its agency, Viginum.
