Infoguerre

As Georgia’s path to Europe stalls, mass protests erupt—and with them, a storm of disinformation. Pro-Kremlin outlets are exploiting the chaos aiming to steer the nation away from its European course and back under Moscow’s influence. The Georgian Dream (GD) party’s decision to suspend EU accession negotiations until 2028 has fueled massive protests across Georgia. These demonstrations – ongoing since allegations of electoral fraud marred the October 2024 parliamentary elections – have been met with repeated and violent police crackdowns. Authorities have used excessive force on protestors, politicians, and media representatives. Confronted with growing resistance to GD’s shift away from EU integration, pro-Kremlin outlets in Georgia have pushed disinformation campaigns to discredit pro-European protesters, downplay police violence, and portray Georgia’s Western allies as instigators. […]

Moscow’s calls for elections in Ukraine cannot disguise Russia’s true aims: flip the perception of victim/aggressor roles, disguise Russia’s aggression as a quest for peace, and hijack democratic processes to legitimise blatant land-grabs. Lately, Moscow’s mouthpieces have seemingly been making many overtures to peace. The Kremlin has sensed an opening to hijack the global narrative on negotiating peace in Ukraine. Rightly or wrongly, Moscow sees the current geopolitical constellation as an opportune moment to cement some of the central tenets of pro-Kremlin disinforma-tion about Ukraine, the West, and more importantly, about Russia itself. Hence the putting up of a pretence of peace, while talking about ‘root causes’ and casting Russia as the victim, rather than the aggressor. […]

Russia’s disinformation campaigns are not a loose collection of random lies; they are the product of a carefully engineered system. This system is best visualised as an iceberg: a structure where the loudest pro-Kremlin voices are merely the visible tip, supported by a vast and often hidden system below. For every government official or Kremlin propagandist on Russia’s generously funded state TV channels, there are a multitude of more and less visible channels – websites, blogs, social media accounts, influencers, and pseudo-commentators. They amplify, contradict, mock, spin, question, and confuse – all in the pursuit of the Kremlin’s broader goal of dominating the information space. […]

The 3rd EEAS report provides unique insights into how modern manipulation works. We are launching a series of articles to enhance our collective awareness and understanding. On 19 March, HRVP Kaja Kallas presented the 3rd EEAS Report on Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) Threats. This latest report focuses on how to expose FIMI operations, building upon the 1st report (how to analyse) and the 2nd report (how to respond) to create a more comprehensive framework for countering FIMI. EuvsDiSiNFO provided a curtain-raiser for the 3rd report in its article of 19 March, ‘Behind the curtain: a novel analytical approach to FIMI exposure’. The report is comprehen-sive, resulting from careful analysis of a large sample of data (covering 505 incidents and 38,000 channels) collected over a year. […]

Russia blames the EU for prolonging the war – while its own bombs rain down on Ukraine. Classic Kremlin logic. Kahl’s actual point? He warned that a negotiated end (or pause) to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine probably would not put an end to Russia’s aggressive tendencies and might even lead it to re-focus its energy on Europe. You know, the whole hybrid warfare, cyberattacks, election meddling thing. However, the narrative being pushed by pro-Kremlin outlets suggests this is just a facade, implying that the EU is more interested in prolonging the suffering than supporting Ukraine’s sovereignty. Because doesn’t it make perfect sense that the EU’s goal would be to keep Europe locked in a never-ending war, rather than working toward a peaceful resolution? This false narrative is really about deflecting attention from Russia’s own deliberate decision to launch a full-scale invasion and its subsequent war crimes. It is easier to point the finger at the West and say, ‘They want the war to continue!’ than, you know, acknowledge that Russia is the one who started it and keeps it going. […]

De la tromperie diplomatique à l’invention de prétendus marionnettistes, le manuel de manipu-lation du Kremlin semble évoluer en surface, mais ses fondamentaux restent les mêmes. Mardi 18 mars, Poutine et le président américain Donald Trump ont discuté par téléphone d’un possible cessez-le-feu de 30 jours en Ukraine. Cette proposition avait déjà reçu l’approbation de l’Ukraine lors des pourparlers entre les États-Unis et l’Ukraine à Djeddah. Le Kremlin a publié un compte rendu de l’appel de mardi, qui offre un cours magistral en manipulation de l’information. Le récit manipulateur soigneusement élaboré par le Kremlin positionne de façon trompeuse Poutine comme un «artisan rationnel de la paix». Il rejette aussi une fois de plus l’offre de cessez-le-feu tout en intégrant de nombreux narratifs de propagande bien rodés au sujet de l’Ukraine. […]

The Kremlin continues to use manipulative language in its narratives, as seen in a recent readout … From diplomatic deception to puppet master fabrications, the Kremlin manipulation playbook may evolve on the surface but its fundamentals remain unchanged. The Kremlin continues to use manipulative language in its narratives, as seen in a recent readout … From diplomatic deception to puppet master fabrications, the Kremlin manipulation playbook may evolve on the surface but its fundamentals remain unchanged. On Tuesday, 18 March, Putin and US President Trump had a telephone conversation discussing a potential 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine. A proposal that Ukraine had already endorsed during US-Ukraine talks in Jeddah. The Kremlin published a readout of Tuesday’s call which offers a masterclass in information mani-pulation. The carefully crafted manipulative Kremlin narrative deceitfully positions Putin as a ‘rational peacemaker’ while effectively turning the ceasefire offer down yet again and embedding multiple long-standing propaganda narratives about Ukraine. […]

The European External Action Service (EEAS) has released its third report on foreign information mani-pulation and interference (FIMI) threats. Like previous reports, the latest iteration of the report is based on carefully collected data of observed FIMI activity, to identify and analyse the key trends in 2024. Building on the guidance provided by last year’s report on moving toward collective response, the 3rd report on FIMI threats introduces a novel element to analyse foreign information manipulation and interference – the FIMI Exposure Matrix, which was applied to analyse a sample of 505 FIMI incidents involving some 38 000 channels engaged in information manipulation. EU H R Kaja Kallas presented the report and stated clearly that the threat of FIMI is global and must not be underestimated, because ‘the aim [of FIMI] is to destabilise our societies, damage our democracies, drive wedges between us and our partners and undermine the EU’s global standing.’ […]

« A drug addict, a dictator and a puppet, oligarch, collector of Nazi memorabilia and a Nazi himself, an agent of MI6 and perhaps the CIA », according to the Kremlin: These are not colourful descriptions of a Bond character, but the picture of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy painted by Russian state and pro-Kremlin outlets. It is one of the most prominent strands within the Kremlin’s disinformation narra-tives: smear Ukraine’s democratic leaders to delegitimise its statehood and the very existence of a free Ukraine. And in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, such slander takes on a whole new meaning. At the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian people rallied around their elected leader. President Zelenskyy has become not only a natural interlocutor for Ukraine’s friends and allies around the world, but also a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. Breaking it has been the focus of Russian information warfare in order to demoralise, destabilise and divide Ukraine and its allies. […]

Lately, pro-Kremlin information manipulators have been putting on a show of a twisted victory dance over Russia’s war against Ukraine. Its central element is the myth of Russian military invincibility. The Kremlin’s flirtation with the idea of Russia’s invincibility started way before the recent heated Munich Security Conference. In fact, Moscow has been systematically deploying this idea as a tool of influence, blackmail and dissuasion all throughout Russia’s war against Ukraine. It may well be that the policy-makers in the Kremlin actually believe the narrative of Russia’s inevitable victory that their own propagandists have developed. How else could one explain the arrogant tone struck by the Kremlin’s disinformation superspreader-cum-news agency, state-run RIA Novosti, public-ly celebrating victory on day three of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine? […]