Leaked Documents Reveal UK Intelligence Operation Targeting Russia, Iran, Gaza and Beyond

Leaked Documents Reveal UK Intelligence Operation Targeting Russia, Iran, Gaza and Beyond Hidden under the guise of a civilian “countering disinformation” organization, British intelligence outfit MI6 has helped build a vast propaganda apparatus, leaked documents reveal. Once targeting only Russia, it has recently expanded its scope to Iran, Gaza, and beyond, as this MintPress News investigation reveals. Britain’s Hidden Information Warfare Machine This investigation, based on secret leaked documents, including internal Intranet pages, reveals a clandestine new propaganda unit inside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (powerbase.info › Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office). Directed by MI6 and hidden behind civilian cover, the unit exists to professionalize and expand the British state’s long-running practice of promoting disinformation under the guise of “countering disinformation”. The operation against Russia began in 2014 through the Russian Language Program and its apparent successor, the Counter Disinformation and Media Development (CDMD) (powerbase.info) program. It was expanded to Ukraine after the launch of Russia’s Special Military Operation in 2022. Iran and China were added as formal targets in 2023, with Gaza incorporated on a semi-detached basis. The leaked materials allow us to re-read what is publicly known about British government propaganda and actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran. The pattern is unmistakable: whenever one iteration is exposed, the secret state simply rebadges and relaunches the same operation while quietly broadening its targets. The Integrity Initiative Scandal and the Evolution of UK Counter-Disinformation Efforts The UK government’s counter-disinformation work began with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Russian Language Program under the HMG (His Majesty’s Government) Russia Unit. Officially aimed at Russian-speaking audiences abroad, it is this program from which the Institute for Statecraft (powerbase.info › Institute for Statecraft) applied for funding for its flagship project, the Integrity Initiative (powerbase.info › Integrity Initiative). In practice, the Integrity Initiative largely operated in English (not in Russian) and extended well beyond its supposed foreign focus. Leaked documents in 2018 revealed that it built international “clusters” of journalists, academics and policymakers, and amplified material that targeted UK domestic politics — including sustained attacks on Jeremy Corbyn the then-leader of the Labour Party. The Integrity Initiative funded by the secret state to undermine the Leader of the Opposition The scandal broke in late 2018 following a major data breach. It soon became apparent that the think tank running the project, the Institute for Statecraft, listed an abandoned mill in Fife, Scotland, as its registered address. Investigations (syriapropagandamedia.org › briefing note on the integrity initiative) of the leaked documents also showed multiple intelligence links to the project, including most notably the director of the project Chris Donnelly (powerbase.info › Chris Donnelly) who was revealed to be an Honorary Colonel in a hitherto secret military organization (powerbase.info › Specialist Group Military Intelligence) called the Specialist Group Military Intelligence. Foreign Office official Andy Pryce was also named in the files, and it became apparent that he was effectively in charge of the program that funded the project. Even the mainstream media began to show an interest. Gateside Mills in Fife. Derelict and abandoned. In December 2018 the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) opened an inquiry into the Institute for Statecraft. Its October 2019 report (web.archive.org › media