Russian fake news about Southport attack is ‘grey warfare’, says former MI6 head

**From The Telegraph’s Political Correspondent, Dominic Penna:**

Russia’s fake news about the Southport stabbings is part of Vladimir Putin’s “grey warfare” against the West, a former head of MI6 has said.

Russian state media were among those who falsely identified the suspect – who was charged overnight – as an asylum seeker who arrived in the United Kingdom in a small boat.

The claims helped to fuel disorder on the streets in Hartlepool and London as well as Southport, where dozens of police officers were injured in clashes with far-Right protesters.

Sir Richard Dearlove said the spread of fake news was a “fundamental tactic” used by Putin’s regime against the UK and other Western nations.

He told LBC’s Nick Ferrari: “What I can tell you is that we’re in a state of grey warfare with Russia – we may not feel that we are, but they certainly think they are.

“The exploitation of that space is a fundamental tactic in their conflict with the West. So if these bots have been used to stir up through social media a violent response, I’m not the slightest bit surprised.

“People just don’t seem to understand the extent of the Russian attitude to conflict and the way every aspect of their relationship with us will be seen as a basis to attack us.”

The Kremlin launched a disinformation campaign in March that spread false claims MI6 and other Western intelligence agencies were responsible for a terror attack in Moscow.

# People ‘underestimate danger’ of Moscow

Asked whether Moscow’s attitude towards the UK was “as grave as you can recall”, Sir Richard replied: “Yes, I think it is at the moment, certainly towards the West.

“The Russians think they’re in an existential conflict with us. That’s my view of the international situation. I think we are slightly complacent and I don’t think people necessarily understand the danger that we’re in.”

Sir Richard said he had “not specifically heard of” a fake news website called Channel3Now which was behind the false information about the Southport attacker.

“Clearly, it’s one of the sources of this activity out of Russia,” he added.

“I think the people running these [sites] have a pretty open instruction to exploit opportunities as they identify them. They’re not going to get clearance from Putin, but it’s part of the nature of their setup and how they operate … They’re not going to act with restraint.”

Sir Richard said his own email account had been targeted by Russian hackers despite him no longer holding an intelligence role.

“You can see the extent of the effort they’re prepared to put into these activities. I can’t say I’m a strategically crucial person.”

Asked whether X, formerly Twitter, had become a “wild west” under the control of its owner Elon Musk, Sir Richard said Mr Musk’s approach to the social media platform represented “a split in America between those who believe in control and … absolute freedom and anarchy”.

Lord Mann, the government’s independent adviser on anti-Semitism, suggested on Wednesday that Sir Keir Starmer should take action to regulate X.

“The way Twitter is framing its algorithms towards violent extremism requires careful but decisive action from legislators,” he wrote. “Online harm is back on the agenda.”

**Article Link:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/01/russian-fake-news-southport-attack-grey-warfare-mi6/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/01/russian-fake-news-southport-attack-grey-warfare-mi6/)

That wouldn’t be the first time Russia has done similar stuff.

If I recall, they’ve also played the divide and conquer game with aspects of the BLM movements and with the right-wing movements to oppose it

Russia’s disinformation campaigns are a lot more effective than the West’s attempts to counter them

That’s what the bots are doing and we’ve got millions of useful idiots that are only too eager to gargle down any BS they’re thrown at.

They’ve been doing this for over a decade. Itys pretty obvious.