interferes in elections. ukraine Eu. Nikola Pashinyan. russian propaganda

Pro-kremlin media are widely circulating a video bearing the logo of the analytical firm NewsGuard. It claims that since 2023, Ukraine has been “actively interfering in the elections of sovereign states”, specifically in the US, Germany, France, Romania, Moldova, and now Armenia. As ‘evidence’, it cites claims that Ukrainian security services are using bot farms and carrying out DDoS attacks in support of ‘anti-russian forces’. In reality, this video is yet another fabrication by russian propaganda. 

NewsGuard has never published any such video or report, and the very methods attributed to Ukraine are part of russia’s own documented strategy of interference. NewsGuard is an American media verification company specialising in assessing the reliability of news sources and tracking disinformation campaigns. NewsGuard has not published any report on ‘Ukraine’s interference in the elections of sovereign states’ — neither in the form of a study nor in any other form. Furthermore, NewsGuard does not have an official Instagram account and does not publish news in the Reels format. The company specialises in in-depth analytical reports and ‘Nutrition Labels’ (reliability ratings) for websites, rather than video content for social media.
This is a classic example of a russian tactic — projecting one’s own crimes onto an opponent. According to numerous international investigations , it is russia that is behind such interference networks. For example, the ‘Matryoshka’ project, which coordinates a network of bots on X and Telegram to spread fake videos. It is this network that is the source of the fake video bearing the NewsGuard logo. Or the kremlin’s «Doppelgänger» , which cloned the websites of well-known publications such as Der Spiegel or Le Monde to publish anti-Ukrainian and anti-European disinformation on behalf of Western journalists. 
The timing of this fake news story is no coincidence. Preparations are underway in Armenia for the (June 2026), and the kremlin is attempting to discredit Nikola Pashinyan’s pro-Western government by accusing it of ‘secret collusion’ with Ukraine and France.
Even greater interference by moscow was observed in Hungary in the run-up to the elections on 12 April 2026. For weeks, russian propagandists and bot networks have been spreading fake news about alleged attempts by Brussels and Kyiv to influence the vote or even ‘steal’ it in the style of the ‘Maidan’. russia has sent military intelligence officers and “political strategists” (https://vsquare.org/putins-gru-linked-election-fixers-are-already-in-budapest-to-help-orban/) to Budapest to help Orbán retain power by spreading disinformation and narratives on social media portraying Ukraine as the architect of chaos in Hungary and the EU. The same NewsGuard uncovered a network of 34 TikTok accounts which, using AI, created videos claiming, among other things, that a victory for the opposition would lead to Hungarians being sent to war on Zelenskyy’s orders. But Hungarians have grown tired of the current government’s deceitful nature, which is why the opposition won the election convincingly. In the near future, we will see how moscow attempts to salvage its criminal interests in other countries where trust in it is waning.
Fake: Ukrainians carried out a cyberattack on the European Commission.
Pro-russian media outlets are spreading information claiming that three Ukrainians allegedly carried out a cyberattack on the European Commission by getting jobs there and infecting the organisation’s computers with malware. “The criminals are currently in hiding in Egypt and are wanted by Interpol,” reports russian propaganda. A video featuring the WIRED logo was created for this fake story.
The video also features the name of cybersecurity expert Lawrence-Jan Kloppenburg, who allegedly stated that Ukrainians often manage to evade responsibility for crimes in the Eurozone due to the EU’s failed humanitarian policy towards Ukrainian citizens (as victims of war) and insufficient checks at border crossings. Kloppenburg was attributed with the view that “Ukrainians are forming entire criminal clans in Europe”.In fact, WIRED, a publication covering technology, politics and international security, does not publish videos in this format and has not circulated such a story. However, WIRED recently reported on how neural networks are spreading false narratives from russian propaganda, citing operations linked to the kremlin.
No such story has been reported by the European Commission or any other authoritative sources. Furthermore, we have checked with Interpol: currently, no Ukrainian citizens are subject to an international arrest warrant in Belgium. And those Ukrainians who are wanted in other European countries are not accused of cybercrimes.
Cybersecurity specialist Laurens-Jan Kloppenburg is not a public figure and works in the private sector at the Dutch organisation Cyber Campus, which focuses on developing digital resilience for small and medium-sized businesses. It was from the company’s website that the propagandists took his photo.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org