How Russia-linked Telegram Channels Are Inciting Terrorism in the UK

“We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users,” Telegram founder and chief executive Pavel Durov, who was born in Russia, said in September 2024. Durov was arrested in Paris on 24 August 2024 and charged with several counts of failing to curb extremist and terrorist content.

Meanwhile, Telegram is still allowing channels to distribute extremist and terrorism-fuelled content, which is spilling out across the streets of the UK.

Telegram has continued to grow and remains especially popular among far-right groups, with “secret chats” remaining a vital tool for their activity. Durov is currently released on bail, and his case won’t go to trial for another year, according to reports. 

“Vigilantism is my primary concern” Eva Galperin, director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told WIRED. Her concern was echoed by Hope Not Hate, a UK-based anti-fascist organization in their recent investigation. 

Russian-linked Telegram channels inciting terrorism in the UK

Hope Not Hate uncovered a Russian-linked Telegram network inciting terrorism and hate crimes across the UK, offering cash rewards for those conducting the crimes. The network has offered “£2,500 to anyone willing to burn a British police vehicle and a cash prize of £100 for videos of vandalism against mosques.”

The channels have also been hosting a “library of terrorism manuals, including instructions on how to make homemade explosives, remote detonators, landmines and grenades with blueprints for 3D printers” Hope Not Hate reported. 

This is an association of misanthropes that opposes the Jewish authorities, Muslims, drug addicts, and inactive garbage in the form of people. We strive to rid society of individuals who are unworthy of being in it, so that our future and the future of our children will be bright.

Russian-linked Telegram Channel

Reported by Hope Not Hate

Hope Not Hate believes that the channels are linked to a recent wave of vandalism against Islamic centers in London in which at least 7 mosques and Islamic schools have been a target. One of the Telegram channels suspected of being part of the network shared the videos of the crimes being conducted and offered £100 for anyone willing to spray more graffiti on mosques. 

Hope Not Hate reports that a network of channels began after racist riots that took place across the UK in 2024. From July 29 to August 5, 2024, the UK saw the largest outbreak of far-right rioting in the post-war period. An estimated violent 29 anti-immigration demonstrations and riots took place across 27 towns and cities across the UK.

Telegram channel’s mistakes reveal Russian nationality

The channels pose as British nationals, but several mistakes revealed their likely Russian nationality.

Messages within their post include the British Pound sign at the end of the number “2500£”. This is common across Europe but not used by English-speaking countries, where the currency symbol comes first. The language used and numerous grammar errors in their posts also suggest that the “author does not have a firm grasp of English and is using an unreliable translation tool”.

However, Hope Not Hate said that a “sloppy mistake” made in mid-January revealed their Russian origin. While sharing a screenshot from X, their language was set to Russian, and the account was set to GMT+3, a timezone only used in Russia, Belarus, and some nations in the Middle East and Africa. They deleted the post, but a week later, the Cyrillic letter “в” was included at the start of the paragraph. 

Two of the Telegram users most active in forwarding messages from the network to other British chat groups have also made Russian language posts in pro-Putin & anti-Ukraine Telegram chats. They have used the word “khokhol”, a slur Russians use against Ukrainians.

On February 8, they created new allied channels. One is in Russian, targeting former Soviet states, and the other is in English aimed at a Western audience.

“These newer channels are even more explicit in soliciting members to carry out acts of violence,” the report revealed. “They also post a non-stop stream of videos purporting to show its members murdering immigrants, committing arson attacks on family homes, and testing explosive devices in remote locations.”

Russia’s Telegram war seeking to destabilize the West

Telegram has roughly 900 million users where extremists have been found to encourage users to assassinate political leaders, sabotage power stations and railways, and commit mass murder.

Russian-linked actors’ intent on inciting violence across the UK is likely in a bid to cause political chaos, to drive focus away from their war in Ukraine creating another layer of hybrid warfare on the UK’s doorstep.

Read more

Category

World

Russia’s “Eyes and Ears”—and Hands. How the Kremlin Recruits Europeans for Its Hybrid Warfare Against the West

Jan 23, 2025 14:48

In 2024, “there were 500 suspicious incidents in Europe,” Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský told reporters ahead of a NATO foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

Over the last few months, a wave of incidents across the West linked to Russian sabotage have been reported, including: 

• The assassination attempt of the CEO of one of Germany’s leading weapons makers for Ukraine

• Countless election interferences in Europe and the US

• Arson attack on a Ukraine-linked business in London

• Estonian interior minister’s car windows were smashed

• Scandinavian health and water systems breached

• Arson attacks on Warsaw’s largest shopping mall

• The DHL cargo plane crash in Lithuania, killing a crew member and injuring others

There has been a lack of concrete evidence of Moscow’s role in the sabotage incidents, and Russia continues to deny any involvement. Some European leaders have been reluctant to call out Russia, but Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said, “We are simply being too polite,” in a conversation with the Council on Foreign Relations in July 2024. “They are attacking us every day now,” Vanity Fair reported.

“Telegram plays a key role in the perpetuation of militant accelerationism,” said Michael Loadenthal, a research professor at the University of Cincinnati and director of the Prosecution Project told reporters. 

“The messenger is very convenient for Russians because many public channels and private groups can be created on Telegram,” says Yelysaveta Tkachenko, a junior analyst at VoxCheck, a Ukrainian fact-checking project. “If you look at the largest Telegram channels, you can see a lot of Kremlin’s disinformation campaigns.”

Hope Not Hate concludes that the Russian-based influence campaign is attempting to rekindle violence by any means available, which is “deeply alarming”. Providing terrorist training manuals to users carries a significant jail term in the UK. Hope Not Hate has reported the channels, provided evidence to the authorities, and called for Telegram to shut down the channels.