Former head of Royal Navy raises concerns about Russian propaganda and false information from war in Ukraine

Labour peer Lord West of Spithead, who described himself as an ‘intelligence practitioner’, called for ‘Red teams’ to look at the various things Russian president Vladimir Putin might do ‘as he becomes more desperate’ during an exchange in the House of Lords.

Defence minister Baroness Goldie responded that the Ministry of Defence has been releasing certain intelligence on social media in order to combat fake news and propaganda and will continue to do so.

She said: ‘The MoD has perhaps unusually been releasing intelligence and defence intelligence will continue to provide public intelligence updates on the conflict via social media.

‘Now these updates have consistently challenged the Russian false narrative and they provided the public with proper transparency of the events of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine.

‘We shall continue to take measured decisions about what we can release to counter the misinformation, the disinformation and quite simply the wilful dissemination of propaganda and we shall do that in a responsible fashion.’

Meanwhile, the former head of the armed forces has urged the government to take an ‘urgent’ review of its policy to cut the Army Reserves by 10 per cent in light of the war in Ukraine.

Crossbench peer Lord Houghton of Richmond argued that reserve forces have been essential for both Russia and Ukraine in the current conflict, highlighting this as a possible vulnerability for the UK in terms of its own defence capability.

He told the House of Lords: ‘It’s quite clear from the ground situation that both Russian and Ukrainian ground forces are only sustained as combat effective through the massive mobilisation of reserve forces.

‘Compare that with our domestic situation, where the currently confirmed policy on the Army Reserves, confirmed by a minister in the Commons earlier this year, is that over the next 10 years it will be reduced by 10 per cent.’

He called for an ‘urgent revisitation’ of this policy.

Lady Goldie hinted that the policy could be set to change, branding the reserves an ‘area of opportunity’.

She added that ‘with a new government, with the constant presence of threats confronting us, we constantly review what we think our need will be’.

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