London Refutes Reports Integrity Initiative Funds Used for UK Domestic Politics

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The UK Foreign Office's funding for the Integrity Initiative influence campaign is spent solely on combating foreign disinformation and not on any domestic politics operations, Alan Duncan, the minister of state at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said Wednesday.

"The government is funding this initiative with nearly 2 million pounds [about $2.5 million] this financial year. That funding covers its activity outside the UK and it does not fund any activity within the UK, nor does it fund the management of Integrity Initiative social media account. Recent reports that Foreign Office funding has been used to support party political activity in the UK are therefore wholly untrue," Duncan said at the House of Commons.

READ MORE: MP Demands Public Inquiry Into 'Information War Effort' Integrity Initiative

The stated goal of the campaign, according to Anonymous, was to counter Russian disinformation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the project's goal was to damage Russia's reputation.

Last month, hacktivist group Anonymous leaked files that it claimed belonged to Integrity Initiative. The UK media reported earlier this week that Duncan had ordered a probe into reports that the project had been used to discredit UK opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn.