Why is it important to counter Russian propaganda and fakes?

Russia intensified its information war against Moldova

On October 20, the people of Moldova will go to the polling stations to elect a new president. Also in the bulletin: questions about the country's future relations with the European Union. In anticipation of the double vote, the kremlin's disinformation machine started working with renewed vigor. moscow wants to convince Moldovans not to support the pro-European course of President Maia Sandu, which allegedly leads to the loss of sovereignty and threatens the country's security.Some pro-russian media outlets in Moldova engage in blatant outright disinformation, while

others only quote opposition politicians fighting against Moldova's EU accession, such as former president Ihor Dodon, fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, and former governor of Gagauzia Iryna Vlach.Moldova received the status of a candidate for the EU in June 2022. 

The kremlin perceived this reversal of the former republic of the Soviet Union as the joining of Moldova to the anti-russian front, with which the West allegedly seeks to surround russia. For the past two years, pro-kremlin media have tried to portray Moldova's legal decisions on its path to the EU as "Russophobic" as part of the West's "hybrid war" against russia.And this despite the fact that russia illegally occupied part of the territory of Moldova (Transnistria) back in 1991, creating its own puppet government.Read more details about the information attacks of the kremlin in the article EUvsDisinfo:https://euvsdisinfo.eu/kremlin-disinformation-on-moldovas-referendum/

Russian fake factory attacks US presidential candidate Kamala Harris

This is stated in a new Microsoft report. The company's experts determined that russian web trolls were circulating a fake video purporting to show Harris causing a hit-and-run accident that paralyzed a 13-year-old girl in San Francisco in 2011.The researchers discovered that during this influence operation, a video was created in which the actors were paid to shoot. 

Microsoft says this video was created by Storm-1516, a group linked to russian special services: https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2024/09/17/russian-election-interference-efforts -focus-on-the-harris-walz-campaign/

In another fake video, the actress pretended to be Harris in order to fabricate false claims about Harris' involvement in the accident. According to Microsoft, each of these videos received millions of views, and one was released via a fake news outlet in San Francisco to make it seem more credible.Another kremlin group, Storm-1679, which spread fake news about the Paris Olympics, is now also spreading false content about Harris. One of the fake videos featured a fake billboard in New York City with false claims about her politics.From the editors: if russia attacks only one of the US presidential candidates in the information space, certain conclusions can be drawn about the relationship of the other candidate with the head of the kremlin.

Pro-Kremlin media spread fakes about "Democratic plans to kill Trump"

These sites masquerade as American news channels and are linked to John Mark Dugan, an ex-US military man who fled to russia and plays a key role in the kremlin's global disinformation network.According to disinformation researchers, hundreds of fake media outlets have recently appeared, which, thanks to available AI tools, are fueling a surge of false narratives ahead of the US presidential election, writes AFP. 

The articles about the "Democratic attempt on Trump" spread false claims and cited an audio recording of an allegedly private conversation between former President Barack Obama and a Democratic Party strategist.As reported by the NewsGuard organization, the audio recording was created with the help of AI for an article on the little-known website DeepStateLeaks.org. The audio was distributed through a network of 171 fake news sites, including the Atlanta Beacon and the Arizona Observer, which in turn cited DeepStateLeaks as its source.NewsGuard added that the articles appeared to be AI-rewritten versions of the same story.

Polish special services neutralized a group of cyberspies controlled by Moscow, and Norway is preparing for sabotage

The exposed cyber group is connected to the Belarusian and russian special services, Polish Minister of Digitalization Krzysztof Hawkowski said.
The attackers started their cyberespionage campaign with an attack on the website of the Polish Press Agency (PAP), and their key goal was to infiltrate various Polish institutions, government agencies and state-owned companies that are connected to the security sector to steal information.

The minister also noted that more than 400,000 incidents related to cyber attacks were recorded in just six months.
Meanwhile, in Norway, a change in the threat level of sabotage on critical infrastructure facilities by the russian Federation is recorded.

According to intelligence data, russia has become more prone to sabotage, in particular at oil and gas facilities, than a year ago. As noted by the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SSR), Vice Admiral Nils Andreas Stensens, quoted by Reuters (https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/norways-spy-chief-sees-russia-more-likely-attempt-sabotage- 2024-09-10/), this intensification is, among other things, related to the kremlin's attempts to stop Western support for Ukraine: "We are observing planned acts of sabotage throughout Europe, which indicates Russia's clear efforts in this direction."

Journalists of the Washington Post refuted yet another Russian fake

Since the beginning of the offensive of the Ukrainian army on the Kursk region of russia, the kremlin's special services have launched a powerful disinformation campaign. One of the key topics in it is the killing and torture of the civilian population of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian military. Of course, the purpose of these fakes is to tarnish the reputation of the Ukrainian army and sow doubts in the countries allied to Ukraine regarding further support.

However, representatives of several world media over the last week managed to visit the areas of hostilities on the territory of russia. In particular, a recent report was published by the Washington Post. One of the journalists' conclusions is that there is no evidence that the Ukrainian military is purposefully killing, torturing or abusing local residents. On the contrary, the Ukrainian army is trying to provide humanitarian aid to everyone.Read the full report here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/08/18/ukraine-russia-sudzha-kursk/

Western investors in Russian majors

The Molfar OSINT agency conducted an investigation into a large russian company in the oil and gas sector. Specialists analyzed about 30 of the largest Russian oil and gas companies ("Rosneft", "Gazprom", "Lukoil" and others). Among their owners and investors were many European and American companies.

Perhaps that is why some in the United States and Europe react so painfully to Ukraine's attacks on russian factories that supply the criminal terrorist army and the kremlin's special services. And, obviously, there are influential forces in the democratic world that are directly interested in the existence of putin's dictatorship, because they have a good percentage of it.
Read the full investigation here (in English): https://molfar.com/en/blog/zahidni-investory-u-rosiiskii-nafti

Hungary plans to make it easier for Russian agents to enter Europe

The Hungarian government recently revealed plans for a new fast-track visa system for citizens of eight countries, including russia and Belarus, to enter Hungary. The local “National Card” allows its holders to work in the country for up to two years. The plan is simpler than obtaining a normal work permit or business visa and allows for family reunification. After three years, national card holders receive the right to permanent residency.The head of the main European People's Party, Manfred Weber, has already said that the plan raises serious concerns about European security and creates major loopholes for espionage.

Importantly, by circumventing the restrictions insisted on by EU law, cardholders are being given easier access to the common Schengen area: “The lack of a clear need for such a broad and unregulated entry mechanism for russians and Belarusians... calls into question the implications for Hungary and the wider Schengen areas,” Weber notes.A group of MEPs is already pushing for the EU executive to take action against Budapest, including the possible expulsion of Hungary from the Schengen zone. MEPs recalled the existence of several examples of hostile operations by russia, notably the attempts to kill the Skripals in Britain and the explosion of ammunition depots in the Czech Republic. “Orbán’s irresponsible decision poses a significant threat to the security of all EU members and their citizens,” the letter states.

Russia's ally has stepped up phishing cyberattacks against high-ranking US and Israeli officials

Iranian hacker group APT42 has targeted political campaigns, diplomats, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions involved in foreign policy discussions.The Google Threat Intelligence Group report (https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/iranian-backed-group-steps-up-phishing-campaigns-against-israel-us/) states that over the past six months, the US and Israel accounted for about 60% of APT42's targets,

including Israeli ex-military and Democratic and Republican accounts linked to the US election campaign.Iranian hacker group APT42 has targeted political campaigns, diplomats, think tanks, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions involved in foreign policy discussions.The Google Threat Intelligence Group report (https://blog.google/threat-analysis-group/iranian-backed-group-steps-up-phishing-campaigns-against-israel-us/) states that over the past six months, the US and Israel accounted for about 60% of APT42's targets, including Israeli ex-military and Democratic and Republican accounts linked to the US election campaign.

The Czech Republic has detected a number of hybrid attacks from Russia

The report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Czech Republic, devoted to the activities of extremist movements for the first half of the year, states that the russian special services received a "strong base in the country, which is easy to influence in order to spread their influence."

The report notes that some former right-wing extremists have become supporters of the kremlin regime. Their priority task was not to incite hatred against migrants, Muslims, Jews, Roma or the LGBT+ community, but to "ensure the further change of values ​​and promote a positive image of russia."
A report by the Czech Ministry of the Interior also documented incidents of hate speech against Ukrainians and an increase in anti-Semitic incidents, especially online.

Manipulation of the statement of a high official of the European Union

Some russian mass media, as well as Internet users, spread the message that the High Representative of the European Union for foreign and security policy, Josep Borrell, allegedly does not want the war in Ukraine to end. According to them, the EU is deliberately "prolonging the conflict in Ukraine", although it knows how to end the war, but prefers that Ukrainians continue to die.The kremlin's "fake factory" regularly and consistently edits the speeches of influential people at its discretion.

In fact, during his speech, Josep Borrell emphasized that ending support for Ukraine would not lead to peace, but to the capitulation of Ukraine and the establishment of a puppet government in Kyiv that would be subordinate to russia. The diplomat emphasized that there is no other plan for the entire European Union, except the peace plan of President Zelenskyi.
"If we stop supporting Ukraine, the war will, of course, end. But how? The capitulation of Ukraine. With the puppet government in Kyiv, with the fact that the Ukrainian people will be crushed by the aggressor. Is this the way we want to end the war? No. If we don't want the war to end this way, if we don't want Ukraine to be forced to surrender because it can't continue to fight, we must continue to support Ukraine," - this is Borrell's exact quote.

In the Baltic countries and Poland, 8 sabotage attempts by Russia were recorded

This year, the Estonian Security Service detained 13 people for desecrating several national monuments and vandalizing the cars of the interior minister and a journalist.In Latvia, in February, two men tried to set fire to the Museum of Occupation, and in Lithuania, in May, an IKEA store caught fire. This is reported by VSquare: https://vsquare.org/russia-sabotage-operations-baltics/

Last year in Poland, a group of criminals was convicted of espionage for russia and planning to blow up the railway, which was used to deliver aid to Ukraine.What these cases have in common is that saboteurs are often recruited through the Telegram app.In addition, the special services of the USA and Germany prevented an attempt on the life of Armin Papperger, the general director of the arms concern "Rheinmetall", which was being prepared by the special services of the russian Federation. Here is the CNN post.russia regularly confirms its terrorist nature and recognizes no borders for its own subversive activities.

TikTok found 41 fake accounts with political disinformation

The accounts are in English and French and use AI-generated narratives to mass-produce political disinformation.As written NewsGuard, 17 accounts regularly publish false, pro-kremlin narratives about the russian-Ukrainian war.

Fourteen of these 17 accounts are in French. Between March 2023 and June 2024, these accounts posted around 9,784 videos, with a combined total of over 380 million views.The publication added that none of these TikTok accounts contained any identifying information in their biographies or usernames.What is the conclusion? Any information from TikTok should be checked in independent media.

The Russian Orthodox Church is expanding its sphere of influence

In the confrontation with the West, russia is looking for allies among the countries of the Global South, in particular in Africa. Recently, the russian Orthodox Church (ROC) joined these efforts. On December 29, 2021, the ROC established its own exarchate in Africa, which should cover all African countries. Its activity is already visible in almost 30 African countries.The ROC is primarily a tool of the russian authoritarian regime (in particular, in 2022, the ROC officially blessed its military to kill Ukrainians), and its actions should be viewed in the context of russian policy and the strategic goals of the kremlin.

In Africa, the russian Orthodox Church pursues several goals:● to increase the loyalty of the local population to russia, to the russian language and propaganda;● to strengthen the position of the ROC in its struggle for a dominant role in world Orthodoxy;

● create additional platforms and communication channels to promote the economic interests of the kremlin,
strengthening the activities of russian mercenaries, special services and agents;● to turn African students into advocates of russia in the world.But all this is hidden behind peaceful slogans and colorful manipulations. The Church presents russia as a non-colonial state, a fighter against Western neo-colonialism and a moral defender of liberal values, which are portrayed as contradicting biblical teachings.More details about this at the link: https://euvsdisinfo.eu/the-kremlin-mobilises-the-church-for-war-for-africa/

A bot farm that was part of the "RT" media network was liquidated in the USA

A bot farm using artificial intelligence with almost a thousand accounts in the X social network was discovered by law enforcement officers of the USA, Canada and the Netherlands, it is said (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-leads-efforts-among-federal-international -and-private-sector-partners) in the notification of the US Department of Justice.

The fake profiles were created with the help of the tool "Meliorator" (creates authentic personas in social networks) and pretended to be Americans - used typical names and indicated geolocation in different parts of the United States. The purpose of the bot farm was to spread anti-American, anti-Ukrainian disinformation and kremlin narratives.
The investigation established that the bot farm was created by a russian who, at the beginning of 2022, worked as the deputy editor-in-chief of "RT". So far, the US Department of Justice has confiscated two domain names and blocked 968 accounts that supported the bot farm.

The Kremlin and its allies intend to interfere in the USA elections

According to USA intelligence, as reported by Bloomberg, the main goal of the russian attacks is to disrupt USA support for Ukraine, undermine trust in democratic institutions and in the United States in a broader sense.For this, moscow is ready to attract commercial firms and generative artificial intelligence.

In addition, USA intelligence agencies expect russia to exploit social divisions in the US, including campus protests in support of the Palestinians in the war in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Iran will act as an agent of chaos, sowing internal discord and even encouraging violence. China, according to intelligence, is currently taking a more cautious approach and is aware of the potential consequences of election interference.

The International Criminal Court has launched an investigation against the heads of Russian propaganda

Among the accused are dmitriy medvedev (former president of russia and current deputy chairman of the Security Council), volodymyr solovyov (anchor of the russian state television channel "russia-1"), margarita simonyan (editor-in-chief of "russia Today"), dmitriy kiselyov (head of the state media consortium "russia Today"), TV and radio presenter serhii mardan, as well as the first deputy head of the President's Office oleksiy gromov. Details here.

This initiative is long overdue. Since russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began over two years ago, the russian state and government officials have been accused of committing horrific atrocities against Ukrainians on a daily basis. It is very naive to ignore the threats from the influential russian media, many of which openly called for the genocide of Ukrainians. Now these threats are gradually spreading to other Western countries and pose a direct threat to international security. Read the full news here: https://www.stopfake.org/en/holding-putin-s-propagandists-accountable-for-crimes-in-ukraine/

The Kremlin targeted democratic processes in the European Union

russian propaganda is building up disinformation to interfere in the democratic processes of the European Union. One of the narratives promoted by the network of pro-kremlin accounts and media is: "The European elections will lead to a situation similar to the collapse of the USSR." The goal of the russians is to undermine citizens' trust in national institutions.

This misinformation is easy with data from the international Eurobarometer project, which regularly conducts opinion polls on behalf of European institutions. The positive image of the European Union among the citizens of EU countries has reached the highest historical level. This happened against the background of russia's invasion of Ukraine (2024 study).According to the survey, 73% of citizens believe that the actions of the EU affect their daily life. In addition, 71% agree that their country as a whole would benefit from EU membership. These results are stable and remain high across the EU, the authors of the study stress.

In Russia, the American journalist Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years

He was found guilty of espionage. Gershkovich has pleaded not guilty, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reports: https://www.wsj.com/news/evan-gershkovichThe publication noted that the trial was conducted in secret, and russia did not present any public evidence to support its allegations. Also, lawyers are prohibited from disclosing the details of the process.

The journalist was detained on March 30, 2023 in yekaterinburg. He allegedly collected data for the CIA about the "Uralvagonzavod" defense enterprise, which manufactures and repairs military equipment.UPDATE: Evan Hershkovich was released and handed over to the United States in a major prisoner exchange on August 2, 2024.

Kremlin bots spread fake quotes from 28 Hollywood stars about the USSR

Spravdi.ua reports that on the eve of the celebration of "Victory Day" in the russian Federation, kremlin bots conducted a one-day campaign against "rewriting history" on the social network X (Twitter). 

They shared 28 tweets with photos of Hollywood stars with quotes about the important role of the Red Army and the USSR in defeating the Nazis in World War II. Fakes were discovered (https://twitter.com/antibot4navalny) by the bot blocker project.

How does Russia's foreign intelligence service work against Western countries

Journalists The Insider and Der Spiegel jointly conducted an investigation, the result of which were the materials of russia's foreign intelligence service regarding the information war against Western countries. Among other things, the service has the following tasks:• divide the target audience into two parts - rational and emotional. For each of them, throw your stories into the information space;

• divide the target audience into two parts - rational and emotional. For each of them, throw your stories into the information space;
• use existing or specially created radicals in the virtual space to spread ideas, in order to act not on behalf of russia, but incognito;
• appeal not to the mind of the audience, but to the emotions, in order to achieve the goals set before the propaganda machine as soon as possible;
• continue foreign broadcasts by rt ​​and sputnik.

The Kremlin is trying to interfere in the US elections with the help of artificial intelligence and fake websites

One of the key figures in this campaign is the former Florida police officer who moved to moscow, John Mark Dugan. This is reported in a BBC investigation.Dugan increasingly shifts the focus from fake stories about the war in Ukraine to topics about American and British politics.

According to the BBC, a large amount of digital evidence points to links between Dugan and russian fake websites. The kremlin's operation to interfere in the US election process uses artificial intelligence to create thousands of news articles published on dozens of sites with names that are supposed to look American: Houston Post, Chicago Crier, Boston Times, DC Weekly and others. The names of real newspapers that stopped working several years or decades ago are also used.

The Kremlin spreads propaganda on social media and creates internal crises in Israel

The russians managed to establish a network of their own contractors from among local journalists and politicians, who become instruments of influence in the region, writes (https://www.israelhayom.co.il/magazine/hashavua/article/15983855) Israel Hayom with reference to the Israeli special services.

According to the results of the analysis of the work of russians in the media space of this country, it was found that the kremlin uses a diverse arsenal to promote propaganda. Key technologies include:• creation of websites masquerading as Israeli mass media;• spread of pro-russian messages in comments in popular political groups;• dissemination of anti-Ukrainian publications, including interviews with Israeli military and political figures, who call for continued cooperation with russia.

The special services of the Kremlin plan to expand the network of "manual" public organizations

russian special services have a strategy for 2024 to intervene in the political and internal information space of Western countries, media expert and investigative journalist Bellingcat said (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xHTR_okdKE) in an interview for LIGA.net Hristo Grozev.According to Grozev, the kremlin plans to create, support and filter public movements that look like they were organically created to protect the economic national interests of one or another country.

Thus, russia is trying to weaken support for Ukraine "from below" by influencing electoral sentiments, using problematic and acute issues in each country, inventing a connection between these issues and Ukraine. Part of this model already works in countries loyal to the kremlin: Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia. We can also mention the case of large-scale strikes by Polish farmers, which were coordinated by far-right political forces that maintain certain relations with russian political figures.Meanwhile, in order to counter russian aggression, the European Parliament on June 24 banned European parties from receiving funding of russian origin.

Russia continues information attacks on the 2024 Olympics and the IOC

Another burst of fabricated news about the Summer Olympics in France was recorded last week. You can read more details here.Among other things, a fake video about Microsoft's research is circulating on the Internet. In this material, the authors present the results of a study that 83% of reviews on the Internet about the Olympics in France are negative.

Among other things: people fear terrorist attacks, bedbugs, street crime and poor service.However, StopFake.org journalists were unable to find confirmation of this study either on Microsoft's official website or in other reliable foreign media. Moreover, Microsoft was actually conducting another study that involved information attacks on the International Olympic Committee and the Olympics. These attacks are clearly of russian origin. Details here.

The Slovenian authorities suspect that Russia is sending spies to the country en masse under the guise of students

The Wall Street Journal writes that the flow of russian "students" to Slovenia coincided with the time when, two years ago, diplomatic employees from Europe began to be en masse expelled on suspicion of espionage.

Because of this, the Slovenian authorities believe that moscow cannot use former intelligence channels in the EU and instead sends "students" to Slovenia to compensate for the lack of spies in the country.
The publication states that many of these "education seekers" are 40-50 years old. Only in March 2024, Ljubljana already deported 8 russian students due to the spread of pro-russian narratives. Would you like to see students from russia in your country?

The USA and Poland agreed to fight Russian disinformation

The USA and Polish governments created the Ukraine Communications Group (UCG) to combat russian disinformation about Ukraine. The activities of the organization will be directed mainly to the countries of the Global South in order to provide them with truthful information about russian aggression.

UCG unites partner countries and international organizations. In addition to Poland and the USA, these are Finland, France, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Ukraine, NATO and the European External Action Service.
"We all understand how important information warfare is. We are all aware of how the enemy — in this case, russia — is supported by China, which repeated all the arguments of russian diplomacy regarding this war in the information space," said James Rubin, a special representative of the State Department.

Kremlin fictions about neo-Nazis in Ukraine

kremlin propaganda is actively spreading false theses about the defenders of the city of Mariupol and the Azovstal plant (the largest enterprise in the city). They are accused of treason, terrorism, killing civilians. In fact, these statements are lies. 

The anniversary of the defenders' exit from "Azovstal" is another reason to remind the world about the feat of the Ukrainian military. We must do everything possible for their release. We must tirelessly remind the world of russia's violation of international law. The support of the international community and the dissemination of the truth is critical to combating russian propaganda.More read here.

The Kremlin is trying to blame Ukraine for organizing anti-government protests in Georgia

russian media outlets are spreading fictions that Ukraine is allegedly behind the protests in Georgia, and that Zelenskyi allegedly personally gave the order to destabilize the situation in Tbilisi in order to weaken the local government.

The basis is the publications of the security service of Georgia that some Georgians who are currently fighting on the side of Ukraine are ready to return home to support the change of power. But there is no mention of Ukraine and its leadership in any statement of the Georgian special services. The russians, as always, try to use any such events to their advantage and to devalue the image of Ukraine in the eyes of the world community.

The Kremlin is increasing the number of large-scale information attacks on the top management of the EU

According to Eu vs Disinfo, (https://euvsdisinfo.eu/elections-are-battlefields-for-the-kremlin-go-after-the-leaders/) over the past 6-9 months, the number of fake messages about the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and EU High Representative Josep Borrell.Read more.