LONDON, (Reuters) – The British Foreign Office claimed on Sunday that Russia was using a troll farm to disinformation the conflict in Ukraine via social media. It also targeted politicians from a variety of countries such as Britain and South Africa.

Britain claimed that UK-funded research was used in its publication, but it didn’t publish the results. It said the research exposed how the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign was designed to manipulate international public opinion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, boost support for it and recruit new sympathisers. 

Russia refers to its actions against Ukraine as “special operation”, indicating that it is attempting to disarm Ukraine, and then protect it from fascists. Both the West and Ukraine claim the fascist allegations are baseless, and they agree that the war in Ukraine is unprovoked.

Russia believes that Western media present an exaggerated narrative of war. It largely ignores Moscow’s concern about NATO expansion, and claims it is saying the persecution Russian speakers are taking place in Ukraine. Kyiv has denied this claim.

“We cannot allow the Kremlin and its shady troll farms to invade our online spaces with their lies about Putin’s illegal war,” Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

“The UK Government alerted international partners. It will work closely with media platforms and allies to subvert Russian information operations.”

Moscow denies any Western accusations of disinformation campaigns. Washington, for instance, has accused Russia that it tried to interfere in the U.S. presidential elections 2016.

Britain said the research showed the troll factory was using Telegram to recruit and co-ordinate new supporters who then target the social media profiles of Kremlin critics, spamming them with comments in favour of President Vladimir Putin and his war.

Britain claimed that they targeted senior British officials and world leaders. They also added that trace evidence of their operation was found on eight social media platforms, including Telegram (NYSE:), Facebook, Twitter (NASDAQ:), and TikTok.