Recommendation 3

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

Agree. 5. HMG remains committed to leveraging the breadth of our diplomatic expertise and our overseas network to advance British values and interests, continuing to play an active role in countering disinformation, malign information operations, and attempts to undermine international democratic systems and global norms. HMG has a range of diplomatic tools to call out behaviour of other states, from private engagement to using the global platform provided by the UN. HMG uses the tool we judge will have most impact and this includes using the UN to denounce malign activity, champion universal rights, and promote inclusive governance. Where appropriate, HMG calls out behaviour publicly and works with partners to sustain scrutiny and pursue accountability, including through country-specific and thematic UN resolutions. 6. Russia is among the most prolific actors to undermine international structures and norms through disinformation, false accusations and violations of the UN Charter. We continue to call this out; for example, on 24 October 2025, in a UN Security Council debate Russia had convened to commemorate 80 years of commitment to the UN Charter, the UK highlighted Russia’s hypocrisy in calling on States to respect and uphold the Charter whilst Russia itself continues to violate its principles through its illegal invasion of Ukraine. Former Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s intervention following Russia’s veto of the draft Protection of Civilians resolution jointly put forward with Sierra Leone in November 2024 was another clear example of the UK rejecting such tactics. Despite such Russian cynicism in the Security Council, the UK successfully led efforts on an accountability mechanism through the Human Rights Council to maintain progress on Sudan in other UN fora. In the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech to the UN General Assembly in September 2025, the UK also called out Russian manipulation of emerging technologies. Following Russia’s expulsion from key multilateral groupings such as the G8 (now G7) and the Council of Europe, the UK continues to use the UN platform as an opportunity to challenge Russian abuses directly.