The Integrity Initiative organization, which is financed by the UK Foreign Office, acts as London's "anti-Russian long arm" in Greece and Europe, Greek Documento newspaper said on Monday in its five-page article dedicated to London's hybrid war program
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd December, 2018) The Integrity Initiative organization, which is financed by the UK Foreign Office, acts as London's "anti-Russian long arm" in Greece and Europe, Greek Documento newspaper said on Monday in its five-page article dedicated to London's hybrid war program.
At the end of November, international hacktivist group Anonymous leaked documents about the Integrity Initiative project, which, according to hackers, the United Kingdom could have been using to interfere with European countries' internal affairs and lead an information war against Russia.
The news outlet has called this leak a "bombshell," noting that Greek journalists have been involved in the network as well.
"The non-governmental organization [Integrity Initiative] is so governmental that it actually represents the long arm of the Foreign Office, the UK foreign ministry, in Europe. Under the pretext of acting against Russia's meddling � as it once did against the Soviet threat � the United Kingdom created a network of scientists, politicians and journalists who receive instructions on how to coordinate their activities under the umbrella of this organization, on the instructions of the UK embassies," the article said.
According to the authors, the journalists and scientists involved in the network seem to have contacts with the UK embassy in Athens and coordinate their actions with it.
"Journalists' ties with a particular organization could have simply been their decision to express their opinion against Russia's meddling if there had been no coordination with foreign governments, and they [the journalists] were not bought media," the outlet said.
The leaked documents contain extremely pejorative characteristics of the Greek members of the project. Their UK employers note that it is very difficult to have them work for free.
The newspaper has published comments from the head of the Greek Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) and journalists working for the Inside story and Journalists about journalism projects, who deny having anything to do with the "Greece cluster" of Integrity Initiative.
Earlier, in response to a request from Sputnik to comment on the hacker group's publication, ELIAMEP and Inside story employees denied their involvement in the UK project. This time, the journalists found requests for comment suspicious.
"Russians sent us a list of questions two days after the hacking. Do you think this is a coincidence?" Greek investigative journalist Tasos Telloglou, who is working with the Inside story, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
According to one of Anonymous' websites, the Integrity Initiative project was founded in 2015 and funded by the UK government. Financier William Browder, Vladimir Ashurkov, an associate of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny, and scientist Igor Sutyagin, found guilty of espionage in 2004 and subsequently pardoned, were named as people who had ties with the project.
The cost of the project for the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2019 is estimated at 1.96 million Pounds ($2.51 million), according to the leaked documents. The stated goal of the project is to counter Russia's information activities, according to the hacktivist group's website. The US State Department, NATO and Facebook are mentioned among the organizations and institutions that have allocated grants to the project.
Commenting on this information, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that, as it could be seen from the comments, Integrity Initiative's only task was to "denigrate Russia in the public eye in foreign countries."�
