German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, russian propagandists, russian fake

russian propagandists are stepping up disinformation attacks on German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. One of the main narratives is built on Merz proposing to tighten control over digital platforms to combat "fake information." However, russian propaganda presents this as an attack on freedom of expression — not only in Germany, but across Europe. Propagandists amplify their messages with "dire predictions": "Tough times lie ahead for Europe in every respect, which is why they want to silence people." Details in the article.

In reality, this is a disingenuous distortion of a statement made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz back on May 15, 2026, regarding the lack of regulation or responsibility of social media, where he called for greater accountability: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/europe/social-media-platforms-should-be-more-effectively-regulated-german-chancellor/3938935
Merz's exact words were as follows: "If the weekly newspaper Die Zeit published a false statement, one could immediately demand a retraction from the newspaper. Social media platforms, however, claim that they are not responsible for such matters [...] Individuals who make false statements on social media often cannot be identified by their real names. This means that in the wake of digitalization and the broader development of AI, we are facing completely new challenges."
This is fundamentally different from a desire to restrict freedom of expression, as russian propaganda falsely claims. In reality, the EU is looking for effective ways to counter the lack of proper social media regulation, which enables foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) that russia regularly exploits across the continent. It is no coincidence that this groundless claim appeared just days after the coalition agreement between the CDU/CSU party (led by Merz) and the German Social Democrats, which outlines steps to combat disinformation and targeted foreign influence on electoral processes: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/05/13/fact-check-what-are-the-german-coalitions-plans-to-clamp-down-on-disinformation
Fake: Friedrich Merz is a slave to the military-industrial complex.
russian media: "German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is acting in the interests of his country's military-industrial complex and seeks to increase arms orders to gain more resources and achieve personal profit."
This disinformation narrative is an effort to discredit Friedrich Merz amidst a large-scale transformation of Germany's defense sector and rearmament. Nothing indicates that the German Chancellor receives directives from any military-industrial lobby or personally profits from the success of their business. Furthermore, no connection exists between Merz and any weapons manufacturer.
The policy of Germany's government is a direct consequence of massive russian aggression, which has continued for over four years. To shift responsibility onto the EU, the kremlin routinely fabricates such absurdities, asserting that Western leaders support Ukraine's self-defense purely out of mercenary personal interests and receive personal dividends from arms sales.
Manipulation: Germany will begin forced mobilization to send troops to the border with russia.
Pro-russian media and social media users are massively spreading information that Germany will allegedly begin mobilization to send troops to the border with russia. In reality, this information is a manipulation. There is no talk of forced mobilization of the civilian population either in Lithuania or in Germany. Bild’s material notes that only those Bundeswehr soldiers currently undergoing conscription service are subject to mobilization to NATO's eastern flank. Earlier, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had hoped to staff the brigade exclusively with volunteers, but these plans did not materialize.   
An article dated September 14, 2026, genuinely appeared on Bild’s website titled "Pistorius sends soldiers to NATO's eastern flank" (https://www.bild.de/politik/inland/litauen-brigade-pistorius-zwingt-soldaten-an-die-nato-ostflanke-6aa7b9251e576e6f7a14c9fb). It states that German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius issued an order for conscription into the Lithuanian Brigade and that this had been discussed for months. Pistorius long hoped to staff the brigade exclusively with volunteers. However, already in June, he openly admitted that conscription would partially have to be resorted to. That is, it is exclusively about drafting active Bundeswehr soldiers undergoing conscription service, rather than the civilian population.   
Consequently, russian websites and public pages are once again tearing quotes from foreign media out of context — in this case, to sow panic and resistance to NATO military plans among the populations of those very states.
Based on materials from Spravdi.ua
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leadership Germany's. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. russian disinformation attacks. putin's regime

The kremlin's information manipulation apparatus spares no effort to portray modern Germany as a threat to the world, as a renewed form of nationalism with aggressive tendencies. russian propaganda screams in its media resources that Germany's new rearmament plan is preparation for direct armed conflict with its neighbours. Of course, these provocative slogans have no basis in reality. 

russian propagandists directly accuse German Chancellor Friedrich Merz of ‘seeking revenge for the defeat of the Third Reich,’ and some attribute to him the status of ‘descendant of the Nazis.’ In general, the chancellor is subject to powerful disinformation attacks. As of now, more than 30 cases are known. 
In 2025, russia is also increasingly accusing Germany of preparing for direct intervention in the war in Ukraine: ‘Very soon, German soldiers will be standing at Russia's borders, using sophisticated Western military equipment.’ This is a baseless fabrication designed to portray Germany as an aggressor, ‘replacing the Americans as a strategic sponsor’ of the war against russia. Another goal is to awaken among its own citizens, as well as the citizens of the former republics of the USSR, a ‘historical memory’ of the struggle against Nazi Germany in the 20th century. It is also an attempt to recruit additional ‘ideologically motivated’ people into its army. In this way, the kremlin is building its ‘defensive position’ — that ‘russia is forced to respond to threats.’ Even putin's press secretary is already talking about this openly. 
In all these stories, the russians are silent about the fact that they were the ones who started the unprovoked aggression against Ukraine, which has grown into the largest military conflict since World War II, and that it is the russian special services that are carrying out sabotage throughout Europe, recruiting new agents, and forming alliances with other dictatorial regimes.
A parallel track of this disinformation campaign is the internal division of society in Germany. The russian agency RIA Novosti published an interview with Waldemar Ebergardt, a member of the russian-German Chamber of Foreign Trade, who was presented as the head of the construction company Bavaria-Bau. In it, he spoke about the advantages of the Chinese automotive industry over the German one, about the fact that companies throughout Germany are going bankrupt due to the loss of the russian market, and also about the fact that in russia, unlike Germany, it is ‘comfortable and safe.’
Interestingly, no one in Germany has heard of Waldemar Ebergardt and his company Bavaria-Bau: there is no information about him in German, except for one article in the Moskauer Deutsche Zeitung, a russian newspaper that has a German version. The article contains the biography of ‘Waldemar Ebergardt’, who is referred to in the article as ‘Vladimir Eber’. It turns out that he was born in Novosibirsk to a family of russian Germans and moved to Pforzheim in south-western Germany at the age of 14.
Through its agents, russian propaganda tries to promote fictitious stories about economic woes and terrible mistakes in social policy, often using the ‘migration crisis’ as an example. At the same time, the evidence base is usually very weak or completely fabricated. Like in the story about Chinese cars replacing German ones. 
With this material, we are once again trying to prove to our readers the truth that putin's regime will not abandon its aggressive and deceitful policy of ‘submit or disappear.’ And the issue here is not only Ukraine, but the fact that any democratic state is a target for the kremlin. Everything is exactly according to the model of the third reich, now russian.
Based on materials from Stopfake.org, EuVsDisinfo.eu
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