Half a dozen Russian agencies and individuals alleged to be part of a disinformation ring linked to false rumours about Princess Kate face sanctions from the UK.
The Doppelganger network is accused of spreading fake news about the Princess of Wales in March after the future queen withdrew from the public eye over health issues.
Speculation about Kate ended when Prince William’s wife and the mother of Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer.
Security experts at the University of Cardiff had exposed the group as having promoted online rumours about the princess.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced the sanctions against Kremlin-backed company, Social Design Agency (SDA), which is believed to lead the Doppelganger network, on Monday (October 28).
The Labour Government has sanctioned three Russian agencies and three senior figures involved not only in spreading false rumours about Kate but also for trying to undermine and destabilise Ukraine.
Mr Lammy 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.”
According to the British Government, the agencies and their leaders are responsible for the vast “malign” online network which “plagues” social media with fake posts, deepfake material and counterfeit documents.
The US Justice Department in September accuses Russia’s Doppelganger operation of impersonating Western news outlets and spreading false information about candidates in the country’s general election, as well as the war in Ukraine.
Doppelganger’s methods also include finding influencers in the West who are sympathetic to its views and seeking ways to collaborate with the network, according to court documents seen by the Reuters news agency.
Britain alleges that Doppelganger’s “murky” manoeuvres form part of attempts to use deceit to undermine democracy, with “deceitful” tactics which aim to mask the truth about Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “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.”
So far this year, SDA has tried to incite protests in half a dozen countries in Europe, though the lies spread by its network have struggled to gain attention, despite the Kremlin pouring money into its malign activities, according to the Foreign Office.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told the BBC last week it was “utter rubbish” to allege Russia was trying to incite street protests.
The groups and individuals sanctioned by Britain are the Social Design Agency, Structura National Technologies, Ano Dialog and Ilya Andreevich Gambashidze, Nikolay Aleksandrovich Tupikin and Andrey Naumovich Perla.
Professor Martin Innes, Director of the Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation Institure at Cardiff University told the BBC Doppelganger’s “signature methodology” is to deploy very large numbers of social media accounts to flood the “information space” around certain stories.
He added: “This can prove especially influential when they are able to amplify narratives that appear less overtly political.”
The expert said this was precisely what they did in trying to exploit the rumours and conspiracies around Princess Kate, attacking a key, British institution.
Princess Kate announced in a video message released by Kensington Palace in September that she was focused on remaining cancer free. She attended her first public engagement earlier this month, visiting Southport with Prince William.
