UK sanctions Russian and Chinese firms suspected of being 'malign actors' in information warfare

The UK announced sanctions against Russian media and ideas outlets on Tuesday as the country's foreign minister warned Western nations must raise their game to combat information warfare from "malign foreign states."

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK was imposing sanctions on the microblogging Telegram channel Rybar, the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad, which has been described by Estonian intelligence as a front for Russia's GRU spy agency, and the Centre for Geopolitical Expertise, a think-tank run by far-right Russian writer Aleksandr Dugin.

Two China-based firms also were sanctioned "for their vast and indiscriminate cyber activities against the UK and its allies," Cooper said.

In a speech at the Foreign Office in London, Cooper said Britain and its allies face escalating “hybrid threats…designed to weaken critical national infrastructure, undermine our interests and interfere in our democracies."

"We should call this out for what it is: Russian information warfare. And we are defending ourselves," Cooper said.

She said threats include physical attacks such as sabotage as well as disinformation campaigns "flooding social media with generative AI and manipulated videos" aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine's resistance to Russia's full-scale invasion.

British officials pointed to fake websites and political ads during Moldova's recent election and fake news sites carrying videos with false claims about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife designed to undermine support for Ukraine.

Cooper delivered her speech to mark 100 years since the signing of the Locarno Treaties, a set of agreements among European nations that bolstered peace in Europe after World War I.

She stressed the importance of international cooperation at a time when US President Donald Trump has been upending long-established alliances and sowing doubt about the United States’ commitment to NATO.

Cooper, who met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Monday, said those talks "were incredibly clear about the strength of the US commitment to NATO."