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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Ben Quinn

Russia-linked Telegram channels ‘offering to pay for attacks on UK mosques’

Telegram app on a smartphone
A dossier on the Telegram channels has been passed to counter-terrorism police and the Home Office by the campaign group Hope Not Hate. Photograph: ANP/Alamy

A network of Telegram channels with Russian links is encouraging UK residents to commit violent attacks on mosques and Muslims and offering cryptocurrency in return, campaigners have warned.

The channels have already been linked to real world events in the form of Islamophobic graffiti sprayed on mosques and schools in east and south London earlier this month, sometimes with the names of the groups mentioned. Those incidents are under investigation by the police.

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