Russia ramps up disinformation war on UK with propaganda claiming Britain is ‘ungovernable and defenceless’
Russia’s disinformation war on the UK has reached new highs as Kremlin-backed media seek to sow chaos amongst Britons and ramp up attacks on their “main adversary”, experts warn.
In the past six months, state-affiliated media have pushed hundreds of thousands of stories on social media portraying Britain as ungovernable, defenceless, and a legitimate Russian target, The Independent can reveal.
Analysis by risk intelligence firm Osavul, which tracks global hybrid threats and supplies technology to Nato, shows such media output rose by around 15 per cent in September, when it produced around 40,365 stories about the UK, while similar levels of disinformation pushed in October.
False claims that the UK bombed the city of Voronezh with storm shadow missiles, that British police were threatening to arrest people for using air conditioners, and that Andy Burnham was “powerless to stop the UK’s collapse” are among several posts seen by The Independent.
Osavul said the aim was “to leave British readers with a lower opinion of their own state, and readers abroad with the sense that Britain is not a serious power”.
Experts said the threat of disinformation has become far greater because of Donald Trump’s closer relationship with Russia, and Britain’s strong support for Ukraine, meaning the UK is viewed as an enemy.
They warn Russia’s ability to share disinformation has also been turbocharged by artificial intelligence, which allows for faster, cheaper, and more effective campaigns.
Vladimir Putin critic and anti-corruption campaigner Sir Bill Browder said the campaigns “had very big success” in the UK and warned that without government action, it could “get exponentially worse”.
He told The Independent: “I don’t think we’ve even begun to see how AI will be used in this whole thing.”
Osavul analysed Russian state-affiliated actors, state-owned media outlets, state agencies, government officials, and reportedly state-affiliated outlets and channels with a combined audience of 1.37bn.
Other posts included claims that were wildly exaggerated, such as warning of widespread power cuts and an energy crisis in Britain after UK media reported warnings that there could be blackouts this winter. They claimed Mr Burnham’s “priorities included Nato, Ukraine, and support for pubs, rather than concern for energy”.
Following his resignation, Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure was described as being “marred by a rampage by gangs that carried out the sexual exploitation of children” – a reference to criticism of the government’s handling of a probe into grooming gangs.
Analysis found 1,019 messages from 172 accounts Osavul classifies as “high risk for information manipulation” around Sir Keir’s resignation and the collapse of his Labour government, which garnered 93,548 engagements.
Another common claim is that the UK is preparing to attack Russia. Posts describe the UK as “deliberately opting for an escalation”, with the clearest case of outright disinformation falsely stating that Nato had conducted missile strikes on Russia from the London Underground. This came after UK forces took over a disused tube platform to simulate such operations in the event of an attack.
