Infoguerre

One thing that Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine has highlighted is how Russia uses information manipulation as an integral part of its war machine. Such manipulation provided a pretext for Russia’s full-scale invasion and later built support for military manoeuvres on the ground. Russia’s attack on the Bryansk region in March 2023 provides a good case study for exposing how the Kremlin marries information manipulation with kinetic tactics to achieve maximum impact. The narrative amplification strategy combined official speeches, local media, and proxy social media accounts. Initially, statements by Putin, the Ministry of Defence, and the governor of Bryansk greatly increased the visibility of the topic and served as a primer for the rest of the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem. Accounts on several major platforms (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, VKontakte) further disseminated the two narratives, both of the heroic boy and of the villainous NATO. […]

Kremlin propagandists continue their relentless global efforts to poison people’s minds, whether by manipulating facts around food security or denying Ukrainians their right to exist as a people and a state. Yesterday, 26 April, marked the 37th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. Like their Soviet predecessors, the modern day Russian leadership and authorities keep denying the truth about the dangers of Russia’s military actions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, among other things, and instead spread pure fantasies, manipulations, fabrications, and blatant lies. Nevertheless, according to recent Gallup polls, despite this avalanche of disinformation Russia has failed to convince global audiences. The global approval rating of the Kremlin (21 per cent approving) and Russia’s recent actions received a major rebuke from audiences around the world resulting in a historic nosedive in the global approval ratings for Russia. […]

If anything, the Kremlin’s propagandists sure are persistent. They have been trying to deflect blame for Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine since day one and last week was no exception. Several attempts trying to pin the blame on the US, NATO, and others stood out. First, the evergreen plot that Russia had no choice but to invade Ukraine in order to stop a supposed US-led attack on Russia. This time outlets went as far as to claim that Russia stopped World War III from breaking out. This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about an aggressive US planning to attack Russia, aiming to portray the country as a victim and deflect any responsibility for Moscow’s unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine and illegal annexation of Crimea back in 2014. Contrary to keeping WWIII from happening, Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine has started the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII. […]

As different Christian faiths celebrate Easter, the Russian so-called spring offensive in Ukraine has slogged on without making significant territorial gains. In Russia, ‘meat grinder’ is now a standard phrase to describe the bitter fighting. Unlike last Christmas, this time there are no false calls to postpone the fighting like Putin’s sudden proposal for a truce in Ukraine around the Orthodox Christmas. Kremlin press secretary Peskov recognised that the idea of an Easter ceasefire ‘has not been proposed by anyone’. Some of the main Russian political talk shows have promoted the view that disinformation has become so widespread that there is as much disinformation as credible information. Have they become a victim of own tools? In any case, the Kremlin ecosystem will likely use the leak story to push further its own fabrications… […]

Late last week, the Kremlin presented a new Russian Foreign Policy Concept and its contents quickly became the talk of the town for pro-Kremlin information manipulation and disinformation outlets. A veritable exercise in absurdity, the new concept barely stops short of stating that black is white. Or, in the Orwellian terms more familiar to the Kremlin, that ‘war is peace’. Let’s have a look at what pro-Kremlin outlets had to say about this new concept. The common theme echoed by everyone in the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem was praising the concept for identifying the United States as the main enemy of Russia. Of course, Russian disinformation has been vilifying the West, and particularly the US, in their rhetoric for years. […]

A year ago, in late March of 2022, Russian armed forces had lost the battle for Kyiv, which started with an air assault in the early hours of 24 February. Brave Ukrainian resistance forced Russian troops to withdraw from the town of Bucha as part of a broader retreat from the capital. Immediately, reports surfaced of dead bodies in the streets. Many were Ukrainian civilians killed in executions, their hands tied behind their backs. Macabre photos accompanied the accounts from local eyewitnesses. Since the massacre, multiple investigations, including a detailed UN report, have established Russian culpability for the attacks. […]

Putin fails to assert any dominance with his toxic nuclear empty-talk as Russian copycat factcheckers fail to establish any notable foothold in the West. As EUvsDiSiNFO has reported yet and again, the Russian information manipulation ecosystem attempts to capitalise on known taboos associated not only with nuclear weapons, but also with chemical and biolo-gical weapons and radiation. Kremlin propagandists try to feed the common and often irrational fears associated with these types of weaponry. Unfounded fears may in turn lead to confusion and indecisive-ness among Western audiences. In the worst case, fear-based decision-making may end up aligning with overt or covert Kremlin goals. […]

More trials and political prisoners. More labelling of ‘extremists’. More repentance videos. Lukashenka has promised the ‘strictest clean-up’ of ‘traitors’ and authorities follow suit against leading voices. New criminal cases punishing the freedom of speech and expression. More ‘repentance’ videos, Journalists, bloggers at largest independent media outlet hit with long prison sentences. On 25 March, what a strange way for Belarusians to celebrate the 105th anniver-sary of the 1918 procla-mation of the independence of the free Belarusian People’s Republic… […]

While Putin was making his way to the illegally annexed Crimea to throw a PR stunt, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him. Crimea has long been front and centre of the Kremlin’s information manipulation apparatus. Since its launch, EUvsDisinfo has documented, refuted, and published almost 1000 cases of pro-Kremlin disinformation focussed on Crimea. To put that number into context, it constitutes one out of every 15 cases in EUvsDisinfo’s collection of more than 15,000 cases. In a very Kremlinesque way, other outlets framed the ICC as a ‘pathetic and powerless organisation’. […]

Activist, author, and Kremlin-designated ‘threat to Russia’s national security’, Bill Browder has been advocating for governments around the world to impose sanctions on human rights abusers and corrupt officials. On 3 March 2023, he joined EUvsDisinfo in a Twitter Space to talk about Russian disinformation, how the global perception of Russia has changed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, what it takes to keep up the fight against corruption and abuse, and how to hold Russia accountable. […]