The EUvsDisinfo Database has logged more than 17 000 examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation since 2015. We take a closer look to see how the disinformation has degenerated and radicalised over the years.
By EUvsDisinfo | June 04, 2024 —
Table of Contents
We have been building the EUvsDisinfo project since 2015 to better forecast, address, and respond to Russia’s ongoing disinformation campaigns affecting the European Union, its Member States, and countries in the shared neighbourhood. Since day one, a cornerstone of the project has been the EUvsDisinfo Database – the only public, searchable, open-source repository of its kind, tirelessly collecting and archiving examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation.
The Database allows the public to follow how disinformation develops, travels, mutates and becomes interlinked with political dynamics and how it sometimes starts by itself or amplifies existing issues.
The Database has transformed a ‘storeroom of facts’ into an organised and accessible repository of examples and helped shape the definition of what constitutes foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI).
A short time ago, we passed a significant milestone. Our Database reached 17 000 collected cases of pro-Kremlin disinformation examples. This is not something we celebrate but a sombre reminder of how foreign disinformation, manipulation, and interference has become a weapon in the hands of the Kremlin which has built an entire industry in a global operation. Passing 17 000 is something that we want to draw attention to.
17 000 may appear to be a large number, but it is also only a tiny fraction of the outpouring of pro-Kremlin disinformation flooding the information environment every day, particularly since Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022. The system of Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets is large and has grown in recent years; see our illustration of the Kremlin-affiliated system here.
The Kremlin’s lie no. 17 000 illustrates today’s realities
The milestone case no. 17 000 is titled, ‘The Kyiv regime follows Hitler’s methods in the fight against Russia’. It was published by the Sputnik’s Belarus-language version and it brings together several important facets of pro-Kremlin disinformation. Let’s dissect it and see what this pro-Kremlin stuff is really made of.
The target
First, the target. Like a significant part of the disinformation cases we have collected over the years, this one too targets Ukraine. In fact, about half of the 17 000+ cases we now have in the database target Ukraine in some way or another. The Kremlin’s disinformation peddlers clearly have an unhealthy obsession with Ukraine and smearing Ukraine and President Zelenskyy is objective no. 1.
The content – enter the Nazis
Speaking of unhealthy obsessions, let’s look at the second facet of our milestone case – the content. The case focusses on the blatantly misleading claim that Nazis reign free in Ukraine. For years, the Kremlin has been pushing this disinformation narrative, alleging that Ukraine and those who support it are Nazis. In fact, we have more than 1000 cases on this topic in our database.
Crucially, the hunt for imaginary Nazis was also one of the key reasons Putin gave for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and he has been styling himself as the great tamer of neo-Nazism ever since. If history has to be turned upside down to claim the Allies supported Nazi Germany in WW2 or school textbooks re-written to erase the Soviet role in plunging the world into war in 1939, that’s a small price to pay.
The Kremlin has consistently used the unfounded accusation of Nazism to vilify Ukraine and excuse Russia’s own war crimes, like bombing a maternity ward in Mariupol and claiming ‘Nazis were hiding there’. But after a while, even a word as hateful and historically loaded as ‘Nazi’ can lose its shocking edge if used too much, so for our milestone case, the Kremlin’s disinformation launderers went a step further – they put ‘Hitler’ in the title. That’s surely going to attract some eyeballs.
Moreover, by calling the legitimately elected Ukrainian government ‘the Kyiv regime’, pro-Kremlin disinformation agents seek to plant the idea that the government in Kyiv is somehow illegitimate, oppressive, and does not represent the will and the interests of the Ukrainian people.
The channels – spreading disinformation through a web of lies
The third facet of our milestone disinformation example under examination is which channels are used for spreading this heinous claim. In this case, the disinformation article was published on the Sputnik network, a notorious Russian state-controlled mouthpiece with considerable standing and global reach.
Already in 2022, the European Union recognised that the Kremlin’s propaganda weapons such as Sputnik and RT Russia Today are not legitimate media outlets, and imposed restrictive measures to limit the spread of their lies and manipulations. However, the Sputnik network remains one of the largest pro-Kremlin information manipulation operations with significant reach in places beyond the remit of EU sanctions.
In our case, the disinformation story was published on Sputnik Belarus, taking advantage of the Kremlin-dominated and increasingly restrictive information landscape in Belarus to start spreading the claim. Various Russian home-grown social media platforms such as VK, Odnaklassniki, and RuTube also amplified it. Sputnik and RT, or Russia Today, benefit from being part of one joint business structure and operate in more than 20 languages. Stories which get strong engagement in one language platform will often be translated and promoted to other languages and target audiences as we document here.
The trick – project onto others
The final facet is the manipulative rhetorical tactic that underpins the falsely vilifying content spread via a well-established web of pro-Kremlin amplifiers: projecting Russia’s own wrong-doings onto others. In this case, Ukraine.
We have documented this tactic of deflection and mirror projection before. Whether it’s to accuse Poland of having alleged imperial ambitions over Ukraine or to weaponise victimhood by decrying perceived Western aggression against Russia. The tactic is the same as in our case no.17 000 – accuse Ukraine of exactly the kind of evils Russia is guilty of itself.
Further into the heart of darkness
As this case illustrates, pro-Kremlin disinformation has embraced the shock value of dehumanising hate-speech and strays ever further into the heart of darkness. In conclusion, over the years the pro-Kremlin disinformation landscape has become toxic, radicalised, shameless, prolific, and more conspiratorial.
But don’t be deceived!
We monitor a large pool of Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets and have been doing this for years so we can bring you a qualified and situational picture. We will continue to chip away at it, one case at a time, until we uncover the whole iceberg.
When in doubt, consult our Database, and don’t be deceived.
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