Snowden documents claim Britain 'spied on Argentina over Falklands'
Covert operation to stop country from getting islands back, says whistle-blower's documents
Documents leaked by fugitive US intelligence analyst Edward Snowden show Britain spied on Argentina to monitor its efforts to win sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, Argentine media claim.
Britain, which defeated Argentina in a brief war over the South Atlantic islands in 1982, carried out "covert interception and intervention operations and other manoeuvres" on Argentina from 2008 to 2011, reported news portal TN, citing documents obtained from Snowden.
The website said the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group, a British agency, carried out a "long-term, far-reaching" espionage programme dubbed Operation Quito that included attempts to spy on military and political leaders' communications and spreading pro-British propaganda online.
"The new, never-before-seen documents expose how [Britain's] most secret task forces used a dirty game and systematic disinformation to launch their cyberoffensive," said the website.
"The objective: to prevent Argentina from getting back the islands."
Snowden, a former contractor at the US National Security Agency, has lived in exile in Russia since 2013 after revealing mass spying programmes by the United States and its allies.