Kremlin: UK Waging ‘Secret Information War’ on Russia
MOSCOW (Dispatches) -- Leaked documents show the UK finances opposition media outlets, including the BBC, to "create conditions for regime change in Russia,” the Kremlin says.
Earlier this month, hacker group Anonymous published documents that purportedly show Thomson Reuters and BBC Media Action foundations are involved in "a secret information war” against Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that London "finances and manually controls the operation of various media via intermediaries, and how it formed a network of influence agents in the Russian-language segment of social media.”
Zakharova said Moscow was awaiting an explanation from London about the papers.
"According to the leaked documents, PR [foreign relations] agencies search for a new audience, promote content, make adjustments to the editorial policy and teach the staff the latest technologies for manipulating mass consciousness,” she added.
Zakharova said the leaked papers are "confirmation” that former UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to give Russia the status of "a hostile state” is working.
Back in November 2017, the then prime minister announced plans to allocate $139.65 million for that purpose.
The leaked files also exposed how Russian-language media outlets Meduza and MediaZona received illicit support from the UK government.
Earlier this week, Grayzone said on Twitter that Amnesty International had rescinded imprisoned Russian opposition figure AlexeI Navalny’s "prisoner of conscience” characterization on the basis he previously "advocated violence and discrimination and has not retracted such statements.”
Shortly after, Mediazona published an extraordinary exclusive translated by Latvia-based website Meduza that claimed the decision by Amnesty resulted from a Kremlin-orchestrated "campaign.”
Amnesty International, however, unambiguously dismissed any suggestions its decision was in "response to external pressure,” describing them as "untrue”.
"Amnesty decided to re-examine the case and conducted a thorough review of the evidence base,” said the organization.
"After painstaking consideration, we concluded that we had made a mistake in our initial determination,” it added.
Earlier this month, hacker group Anonymous published documents that purportedly show Thomson Reuters and BBC Media Action foundations are involved in "a secret information war” against Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday that London "finances and manually controls the operation of various media via intermediaries, and how it formed a network of influence agents in the Russian-language segment of social media.”
Zakharova said Moscow was awaiting an explanation from London about the papers.
"According to the leaked documents, PR [foreign relations] agencies search for a new audience, promote content, make adjustments to the editorial policy and teach the staff the latest technologies for manipulating mass consciousness,” she added.
Zakharova said the leaked papers are "confirmation” that former UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to give Russia the status of "a hostile state” is working.
Back in November 2017, the then prime minister announced plans to allocate $139.65 million for that purpose.
The leaked files also exposed how Russian-language media outlets Meduza and MediaZona received illicit support from the UK government.
Earlier this week, Grayzone said on Twitter that Amnesty International had rescinded imprisoned Russian opposition figure AlexeI Navalny’s "prisoner of conscience” characterization on the basis he previously "advocated violence and discrimination and has not retracted such statements.”
Shortly after, Mediazona published an extraordinary exclusive translated by Latvia-based website Meduza that claimed the decision by Amnesty resulted from a Kremlin-orchestrated "campaign.”
Amnesty International, however, unambiguously dismissed any suggestions its decision was in "response to external pressure,” describing them as "untrue”.
"Amnesty decided to re-examine the case and conducted a thorough review of the evidence base,” said the organization.
"After painstaking consideration, we concluded that we had made a mistake in our initial determination,” it added.