Greece’s Hellenic Foundation for European & Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) has no relation to the UK Integrity Initiative hybrid warfare project, which is thought to be used by London to meddle in other states’ affairs, ELIAMEP Director General Thanos Dokos told Sputnik on Monday.
Last week, the documents of the Integrity Initiative project obtained by the Anonymous hacktivist group were released by media. According to the Anonymous, the project’s declared goal was to counteract the Russian propaganda. The group, in particular, stated that the project had covert structures in a number of states, including Greece. In the released documents some of the ELIAMEP employees were listed among the project’s coordinators in Greece.
“The only contact between the ELIAMEP and that project was an informational meeting, to which we were invited two years ago. I see this list of names for the first time… In any case the ELIAMEP believes that fake news and disinformation of any kind, no matter who is spreading it, poses a threat to the European democracies as well as to the international security and regional stability,” Dokos stated.
The ELIAMEP, founded in 1988, is one of Greece’s most well-known research institutions in the field of foreign policy. The organization used to be financed by the Greek state, including by the Greek Foreign Ministry. However, the government funding, which never exceeded 25-30 percent of the total funding, was completely halted in 2008.