• The British government has announced sanctions against Russian agencies and figures “who are attempting to undermine and destabilize Ukraine and its democracy”.
• The group is believed to be responsible for an online network known as Doppelganger, which allegedly targeted Kate Middleton earlier this year due to her health problems.
• Princess Kate’s unprecedented absence from the public eye following her abdominal surgery in January created a demand for more information, quenched when she announced she was undergoing treatment for cancer.

A Russia-based disinformation campaign that allegedly targeted Kate Middleton Earlier this year he faced sanctions from the British government.

On October 28, the British government sanctioned three Russian agencies, including Social Design Agency (SDA) and its partner Structura, for deploying online disinformation, known as Doppelganger, to distort the truth about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this year, the Russian-affiliated group reportedly amplified online rumors and conspiracies about Kate’s absence in their midst. abdominal surgery and a subsequent cancer diagnosis, leveraging public curiosity about his health to advance pro-Russian narratives.

British authorities said those involved were behind a “vast malicious online network, also known as Doppelganger, which infests social media with fake messages, counterfeit documents and doctored materials.” These deceptive tactics aim to hide the truth about Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. and distract from the true nature of war.

At the end of March, Martin Innes, director of the Institute for Security, Crime and Intelligence Innovation at Cardiff University in Wales, said: NBC News And The New York Times that he and his team identified 45 accounts circulating information about Princess Kate in a way that suggested the messages were affiliated with Doppelganger.

The director claimed that the network did not launch speculation but took advantage of the traffic to disperse pro-Russian content and discord on the Internet.

“It’s not like these Russia-linked accounts were starting the story; they were jumping on it,” Innes told NBC. “It was already presented in terms of conspiracy, so foreign actors don’t need to set that framework – it’s already there to exploit.”

“It’s about destabilization. It’s about undermining trust in institutions: the government, the monarchy, the media, everything,” he said. “These kinds of stories are the perfect way to do that.”

The Princess of Wales wasn’t the only member of the royal family to be targeted online by Russian actors this year. Just days before Princess Kate announced she had cancer, a false story that King Charles had died, Russian media reported, The Guardian reported March 18. The plot prompted the British Embassy in Kyiv to declare the X that the story was false.

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In the UK government’s October 28 sanctions statement, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Poutine is so desperate to undermine European support for Ukraine that it is now resorting to clumsy and ineffective efforts to try to stir up unrest. Today’s sanctions send a clear message: we will not tolerate your lies and interference, and we will come after you. Putin’s desperate attempts to divide us will fail. We will constrain the Kremlin and stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary. »

The government statement added that the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Australia and the European External Action Service (of the European Union) “join us in denouncing underhanded activities of SDA on a global scale.