October 28, 2024 – Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada

Today, Global Affairs Canada issued the following statement:

“Canada alongside international partners condemns clandestine activities from the Social Design Agency (SDA) and Structura – two firms funded by the Kremlin – that seek to undermine democracy and weaken Canadian and European support for Ukraine.

“These firms and their leadership are responsible for running a large disinformation network dubbed Doppelganger. The Doppleganger network spams the online space with inauthentic posts, falsified documents and deepfakes. These deceitful tactics are designed to undermine democracy and distract from the war crimes and humanitarian disaster Russia has created with its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“Although Europe and the war in Ukraine appear to have been the primary focus, Canada and Canadian social and political issues have also featured in the content of these clandestine outlets. Moreover, Canadians are impacted by Russian disinformation when Kremlin-backed operations exploit contentious topics such as race and migration. These polarizing issues have been a focus of SDA and Structura.

“Canada takes all malign intent and continued activities by the Russian government to interfere in our democracies very seriously. We continue to coordinate our response with our likeminded global partners.”

Quick facts

• Canada has sanctioned over 3000 individuals and entities in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, including in response to malign activities of Russian disinformation actors. These individuals pose as media pundits, “journalists” and “researchers” and the various arms-length and state-owned institutions that host and support them.

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