A network of Telegram channels with Russian links is encouraging UK residents to commit violent attacks on mosques and Muslims and offering cryptocurrency in return, campaigners have warned.
The channels have already been linked to real world events in the form of Islamophobic graffiti sprayed on mosques and schools in east and south London earlier this month, sometimes with the names of the groups mentioned. Those incidents are under investigation by the police.
The same groups have also been sharing PDFs containing bomb-making recipes and designs for 3D-printed weapons. Posters with QR codes for the groups and associated TikTok accounts have also appeared on British streets.
However, there has been alarm in recent weeks after a switch in the group’s language from encouraging graffiti to explicitly calling on people to carry out knife attacks.
The FSB should be an internationally recognized terrorist organization.
Of course that would open the can of worms that every major intelligence agency in the world is basically a terror organization, so they won’t.
This is new thing in UK?
Usually it is the UK government ganging up on Muslims. First time I am seeing Russia join the party.
The Russians are genuinely good at sowing chaos and dissent abroad, it’s high time western countries do more than the usual “just let it happen lol”
