Today, the United Kingdom took a bold stand against Kremlin-linked disinformation efforts by sanctioning Russian government-affiliated individuals and organizations involved in spreading propaganda, particularly during the recent EU parliamentary elections. This sanction list includes the Social Design Agency (SDA), Structura, ANO Dialogue, Andrey Perla, Nikolai Tupikin, and Ilya Gambashidze. The United States, which has previously taken similar actions against these entities, welcomes this latest step to strengthen the protection of the global information landscape.
These sanctions extend the ongoing efforts by the U.S. to combat Kremlin-driven disinformation. Last year, the Department of State’s Global Engagement Center revealed that the SDA and Structura had orchestrated a covert campaign across twelve Latin American nations, inserting Kremlin-produced disinformation into local media to disguise it as legitimate news. Additionally, the U.S. Treasury had previously sanctioned several of these Russian figures and entities for operations such as “Doppelgänger,” an elaborate network that imitated over 60 news outlets to distribute misleading content across Europe.
A fact-based, open information environment is fundamental to democracy, and disinformation campaigns threaten this foundation. These coordinated actions by the U.S., U.K., and other allies underscore a commitment to holding malicious actors accountable and promoting transparency in information across borders.
