UK to provide USD 5.4 million to tackle 'disinformation' in Russia, Ukraine

London [UK], March 24 (ANI/Sputnik): The UK government will allocate more than 4 million pounds sterling (USD 5.4 million) to the BBC World Service for the information war against Russia, the UK Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.
"The UK will also provide an additional GBP 4.1 million for the BBC World Service as part of a cross-government effort to tackle disinformation in Russia and Ukraine, as well as new financial and policing support for the International Criminal Court's investigation into war crimes," the statement said.
"[The] emergency funding to support its Ukrainian and Russian language services in the region... has been provided by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and FCDO," it said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova earlier said "the BBC... corporation in Russia is far from playing the last role in undermining domestic political stability and security in our country."
On March 4, Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked the websites of a number of publications, including the BBC Russian service. The reason for the restriction was "the purposeful placement on a systematic basis of information materials containing false information about the essence of the special military operation in Ukraine." (ANI/Sputnik)