In his debut at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly on Tuesday, 22 September 2026, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham accused Russia of an “industrial-scale assault” on the information environment and of trying to interfere in the United Kingdom’s 2019 general election: “Russian agencies have used every means at their disposal to spread lies and disinformation and prey on people’s fear.

They’ve used bots and fake websites. Falsified newspaper articles. Forged the branding of 28 British organisations — including universities and the BBC,” he said, according to the Daily Express and Al Jazeera. Burnham said the Kremlin spends around £ 1.3 billion each year on manipulating information and announced a new National Centre for Information Defence to detect, attribute and disrupt hostile state information attacks and identify deepfakes damaging British interests, according to Reuters, in a report published by the Global Banking & Finance Review. The body starts out under the prime minister’s office and will work with intelligence agencies, government departments, the police and social media companies, according to the Daily Express. The prime minister said the United Kingdom has already supported Moldova in protecting its elections from Russian interference and that the country is ready to lead an international effort to set standards for artificial intelligence (AI).