HMG Russia Unit

This article is part of the Propaganda Portal project of Spinwatch.

Cross-government FCDO unit created in 2017 within the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate to implement the National Security Council’s Russia Strategy; described in leaked Intranet material as overseeing delivery of campaigns owned by the FCDO, MoD, Home Office and other agencies and as the “Liaison point for covert aspects of EECAD work”; associated with the Counter Disinformation and Media Development programme and later the Information Threats and Influence Directorate / Hybrid Threats Directorate

File:Russia Policy Department-HMG Russia Unit-Screenshot 2025-12-19 at 10.42.37.png

Alleged screenshot of the FCDO Intranet on the Russia Policy Department and the HMG Russia Unit

HMG Russia Unit is part of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAD) Directorate in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office created in 2017. According to the government it “brings together the UK's diplomatic, intelligence and military capabilities”. This would appear to mean that it brings together intelligence capabilities from across government since it appears that the unit is staffed almost exclusively by intelligence officers.

A leaked screenshot of the FCDO Intranet describes the Unit as follows:

Cross-government unit, co-located with EECAD, Responsible for developing and implementing the NSC Russia Strategy, and ensuring delivery across policy, military, intelligence and law enforcement. Manages governance for the strategy and monitors progress. Oversees delivery of campaigns owned by FCDO, MOD, HO, the SIA, BEIS etc. Liaison point for covert aspects of EECAD work.

In a 2021 response to the Intelligence and Security Committee report on Russia, the government noted:

The Government has long recognised there is an enduring and significant threat posed by Russia to the UK and its allies, including conventional military capabilities, disinformation, illicit finance, influence operations, and cyber-attacks. As such, Russia remains a top national security priority for the Government. This is why in 2017 the Government implemented the NSC-endorsed Russia Strategy, and in 2017 established the cross-Government Russia Unit which brings together the UK’s diplomatic, intelligence and military capabilities to maximum effect. The Government’s Russia Strategy does not just respond to the here and now; it is a 30 year strategy, designed in the long-term to move from a relationship of confrontation and challenge, which currently threatens our collective security and values, to a relationship where Russia chooses to work alongside the international community. The integrated and established nature of the Strategy and the Russia Unit was paramount to the immediate nature of the effective and coherent Salisbury response. We have shown in recent years that the UK takes the threat from Russia extremely seriously and will respond to and call out Russian aggression wherever it occurs.

Background

The HMG Russia Unit was established in 2017 as the cross-government coordinating body for the National Security Council’s Russia Strategy (approved by the NSC in 2016). It sits inside the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate (EECAD) of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and is co-located with that directorate.

Official description

Government responses to the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Russia report (July 2020) state that the Unit “brings together the UK’s diplomatic, intelligence and military capabilities to maximum effect.” Delivery of the Russia Strategy is coordinated through the Unit; governance is led by the Russia and Ukraine National Security Implementation Group (NSIG), which reports to the National Security Adviser and Ministers on the National Security Council. The NSIG comprises around 14 departments and agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee noted that all seven organisations it oversees are represented on the Implementation Group, which is co-ordinated by the HMG Russia Unit and chaired by the Senior Responsible Owner (then the FCO’s Director-General Consular and Security).

Internal FCDO material (leaked and published in late 2024) describes the Unit more explicitly as:

• responsible for developing and implementing the NSC Russia Strategy and ensuring delivery across policy, military, intelligence and law enforcement;
• managing governance for the strategy and monitoring progress;
• overseeing delivery of campaigns “owned” by the FCDO, MoD, Home Office, the security and intelligence agencies, BEIS and others;
• the “Liaison point for covert aspects of EECAD work.”

Context and predecessor work

The Unit was created against the background of the 2014 events in Ukraine and Crimea. Earlier UK strategic communications and counter-disinformation work directed at Russian-language audiences (including what later became the Counter Disinformation and Media Development programme) had already been running. The Unit institutionalised a “whole of government” approach consistent with the Fusion Doctrine later set out in the 2018 National Security Capability Review. The government later cited the integrated nature of the Strategy and the Unit as important to the speed of the UK response to the 2018 Salisbury incident.

Programmes and later evolution

A major strand of the Unit’s work was the Counter Disinformation and Media Development programme (CDMD), headed at one stage by Andy Pryce. This programme funded the Integrity Initiative (via the Institute for Statecraft) and other media and strategic communications projects aimed at Russian information activity. Public and leaked material also link the Unit to broader strategic communications support to Ukraine and partner countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

From 2022 the Government Information Cell (established to counter Russian disinformation around the full-scale invasion of Ukraine) was incorporated into the newly created Information Threats and Influence Directorate. That directorate was subsequently renamed the Cyber, Information and Tech Threats Directorate and then the Hybrid Threats Directorate. The HMG Russia Unit’s coordination functions therefore fed into the later FCDO hybrid-threats architecture funded through the Integrated Security Fund (successor to the CSSF).

Public confirmation and leaks

The Unit’s existence and coordinating role have been confirmed in parliamentary answers, the ISC Russia report and the government’s response to it. In November 2024 Russian authorities publicised the expulsion of six individuals they identified as British intelligence officers operating under diplomatic cover in Moscow and released FCDO Intranet material marked “OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE” that included an EECAD organisational chart and descriptions of the Russia Unit. The episode drew limited attention in UK media but was extensively covered in Russian outlets.

Programmes

• Counter Disinformation and Media Development / Russian Language Programme

People

• HMG Russia Unit - James Beer - Strat Comms and Media development unit
• Darren Paul Boyling
• Stephen Ivie
• Joanna Clare Vallat
• Christian A Stephen-Martin
• Alistair Charles Jeudwine Bridgwood
• Karenza Anna Dean Senior Policy Advisor, Russia Unit. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Sep 2019 - Jun 2022 2 years 10 months. London, England, United Kingdom.
• Derek Moir-Smith Senior Advisor, HMG Russia Unit (Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECAD) Department Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office · Full-time Apr 2019 - Feb 2025 · 5 yrs 11 mos London, England, United Kingdom
• Andy Pryce
• Rebecca Speedie - Policy and Programme Manager, Russia Unit. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Nov 2019 - Dec 2020 1 year 2 months. London, England, United Kingdom.
• Erin Treasure Campaigns Manager HMG Russia Unit, FCDO Jan 2021 - Apr 2022 · 1 yr 4 mos
• Andrew Wells 2018 - 2019 Deputy Head of Strategic Communications, HMG Russia Unit, FCO, London.

Exposed by the Russians in 2013

• James William Thomas Ford

Expelled by the Russians in September 2024

Mugshots of the alleged British spies. L-R from top Blake Patel, 2, 3, Jessica Davenport, Callum Duff, Tom Stevenette

Jessica Davenport, alleged British spy

• Jessica Davenport
• Grace Elvin,
• Callum Andrew Duff
• Katharine Mcdonnell
• Blake Patel.
• Thomas John Hickson; Also given as Thomas John Hickson Stevenette and Thomas Stevenett

Expelled by the Russians in November 2024

• Edward Pryor Wilkes

Expelled by the Russians in March 2025

• Alkesh Odedra, the embassy’s second secretary, and Michael Skinner, the spouse of Tabassum Rashid, first secretary at the embassy’s political department.

See also

• Information Threats and Influence Directorate / Cyber, Information and Tech Threats Directorate / Hybrid Threats Directorate
• Integrated Security Fund (formerly the CSSF)
• National Security Council.
• Defence and Security Directorate General (formerly Defence and Intelligence Directorate General) of the FCDO.
• Government Information Cell
• Defence Geospatial Intelligence Fusion Centre (DGIFC) | Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre (DIFC) | National Centre for Geospatial Intelligence | Land Intelligence Fusion Centre
• Eastern Europe and Central Asia Directorate
• Counter Disinformation and Media Development
• Integrity Initiative
• Andy Pryce
• Darren Paul Boyling
• Alex Finnen