Infoguerre

Pro-Kremlin outlets focus on the imminent German Bundestag elections, with narratives stoking tension and division in society. Pro-Kremlin outlets are focusing their attentions on the imminent German Bundestag elections, with narratives stoking tension and division in society. The patterns we highlighted in our recent article continue, and remind us of what we saw at the time of the Olympic Games and the European Parliament elections, tactics such as Doppelganger campaigns, hijacking credibility from reputable outlets, and smearing prominent political leaders with fake videos, social media posts, and other false material. […]

Après de premiers échanges avec les États-Unis, les dirigeants russes essaient de faire progresser, dans un cadre bilatéral, leurs revendications bien établies sur l’Ukraine. Nous analysons les stratégies de négociation et les tactiques utilisées par la Russie. Les événements de ces derniers jours montrent comment les dirigeants autocratiques profitent de leur position pour élaborer un nouveau discours et soigner leur image tant au niveau national qu’international. Un contrôle important sur l’espace informationnel, rendu possible par la répression brutale des médias indépendants, et la diffusion massive de narratifs soigneusement sélectionnés peuvent avoir un effet persuasif. […]

The colder it gets, the more desperate pro-Kremlin disinformation becomes. This winter, the usual scare stories about Europe’s supposed mortal dependence on Russian gas are back, along with new attempts to weaponise climate change. With seasonal regularity, pro-Kremlin outlets bombard their audiences with claims that without Russian oil and gas, Europeans will freeze in winter. Yet, just as the spring sun thaws the frost, Europe’s ability to manage without Russian fossil fuels melts these claims into irrelevance. […]

Russian state-run news agency RIA has increased the use of AI-generated images to dehumanise Ukrainians by showing them as vile vermin deserving extermination. Opinion articles and editorial commentaries on RIA Novosti often border on obvious propaganda. The Russian state-owned news agency uses them to try to convince Russians that countless enemies surround the Motherland, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is justified, and a glorious future awaits the Russian people. […]

Putin is angling for another high-profile sit-down with Trump, but this time, the location and stakes are different. Behind the diplomatic bravado, we see a familiar playbook of strategic flattery, poorly veiled ultimatums, and lies after lies. The Kremlin is practically giddy with anticipation about a possible summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. But this time, don’t expect the meeting to be held in Helsinki. Instead, Russia is reportedly eyeing Saudi Arabia or the UAE as potential locations. Senior Russian officials have already made visits to these countries, laying the groundwork. In the lead-up to a potential summit, Putin has gone out of his way to shower the American president with praise. […]

Pro-Kremlin outlets try to manipulate the information landscape ahead of the German federal election with the usual deceptive stories such as ‘the country is collapsing’, ‘elites do not care’ and ‘just one party can prevent chaos and ruin’. Ahead of the German federal elections later this month, pro-Kremlin outlets employ the usual manipulative narratives including tropes like ‘Germany is facing economic and social ruin’, ‘Germans are desperate for change’ and ‘only parties that promise such change will do well’. The messaging is, as always, simple. Built around elements which would resonate with some people, but embellished with falsities and based on the same few key narratives the Kremlin has peddled for years: Elites vs People, Lost Sovereignty, Threatened Values, Imminent Collapse. Incidentally, the Kremlin’s information manipulation operation sought to employ much of the same playbook ahead of the European elections in June 2024. […]

The Russian state pays big money for the creation of ‘patriotic’ computer games which are intended to conquer the ‘hearts and minds’ by glorifying wars – from 17th century Russia, to 20th century fights with the US in Eastern Europe. Enter the world of IDI. A synthetic brainwasher created by the Kremlin, one of its latest tools in the quest to manipulate and control the thoughts of the next generation, where hard-core imperialist nationalism is disguised as ‘patriotism’. In October 2019, Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian government to choose a non-governmental organi-sation to serve as a ‘coordination centre for organising the production of internet content aimed at the spiritual and moral education of young people’.The government chose the Russian Internet Development Institute, or IDI (Институт развития Интернета). Russian state authorities fully control the IDI. […]

August has been a particularly busy and bloody month in Russia’s war, and not only on the battlefield. Sometimes people think of August as a quiet time of year. In the history of Russia, as well as of the Soviet Union, August has instead been a time of dramatic events. The attempted military coup in Moscow in 1991, the start of the Second Chechen war in 1999. Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 (known as the war in South Ossetia). We recently recalled the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its far-reaching consequences. It was signed in August 1939 in Moscow. We could go on. This August has been dramatic in several ways, too. First – on the battlefield. The Kremlin ramped up the ferocity of Russia’s bombing campaign across Ukraine with drones, heavy glide bombs and cruise missiles. […]

Kremlin disinformation outlets pounce on the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov to fake concern for freedom of speech. Ukraine’s advance into Kursk is still downplayed and swan songs about the Zapori-zhzhia nuclear power plant abound. While most people prefer to spend the sun-filled afternoons of late August making the most of their remaining vacation days, the Kremlin’s agents of disinformation are hard at work churning out narratives that befit their twisted worldview. It’s a tough job to lie with such audacity and so consistently. The Kremlin welcomes any opportunity to distract with ever-more bewildering claims, lest the audience consider any topic for too long and see that the emperor is, in fact, naked. This week was no exception. Pro-Kremlin disinformation peddlers zoomed in on the surprise arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France […]