On TikTok, there is a fake account of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Unknown people speculate on the theme of the war and publish videos about supposedly “live broadcasts from the front” or “diaries of the counteroffensive”.

The case was taken up by the fact-checkers of the project “Beyond the News”, who investigated that in this way it is beneficial for the authors to spread fakes and Kremlin narratives. For example, in one of the videos, the authors depicted the “top of euro banknotes” with the inscription: “Do you want to join the team? Leave a comment”. In this way, they promote the narrative about the existence of so-called “foreign mercenaries” on the battlefield, whose main goal is to make as much money as possible in the war.

Fact-checkers are sure that neither Valerii Zaluzhnyi nor the representative office of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was involved in the creation of this page. At the same time, fact-checkers believe that the authors are trying to increase activity on the TikTok account by publishing emotional videos from the so-called “live broadcasts at the front”.

And the TikTok account itself is tied to one of the telegram channels, which spreads false information about the “missile radar”, which is ready to track every missile or flying object. Analysts of Detector Media have already talked about the “missile radar” and why it does not exist.

The official pages of the “Russia house” in Warsaw publish reports about how Russia allegedly plans to restore and build more than 360 schools and kindergartens in the Donbas.

Analysts of the Polish project Demagog drew attention to this. They found out that such a message appeared on the official page of the “Russia house” in Warsaw on March 27 in Polish and Russian languages. One of the commentators of the message notes that “the restoration of, for example, MARIUPOL is something incredible” and “the city is being rebuilt at an unprecedented speed”.

Thus, propagandists want to justify the actions of the Russians and “smooth over the blame”. Schools and kindergartens would not have needed to be restored if Russia had not destroyed them. In addition, the report mentions planning to “restore eight buildings of the Azov State Technical University”, which was destroyed as a result of Russian attacks.

“Russian houses” in Poland are constantly spreading Russian disinformation, as they are directly subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Detector Media has already written about how this institution spread pro-Russian rhetoric on the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea.

Communities with names like “Military speaks” or “Voice of the common people of Ukraine” have become more active in social networks, spreading pro-Russian manipulative rhetoric. Analysts of the project “Beyond the News” drew attention to this.

They analyzed the creation and content history of four Facebook groups, namely “Military speaks”, “Military says”, “Military truthfully”, and “Automechanic says”. They were created on March 14 and 21 this year. In the description of the communities there is also a link to a telegram channel with a similar name, created on March 17th. To these pages, analysts also add the pages “Military speaks (CrazyNews)” and “Voice of the common people of Ukraine”, despite the fact that they were created several years ago. At first, these two groups published information about employment in Poland, but in February of this year they changed the appearance of their messages to republish videos from TikTok and Telegram.

The message of these messages is the same: “do not trust the Ukrainian authorities”. The administrators of these pages actively use information guides, distorting the message of the authors of the primary sources published on the pages. To do this, they add emotional titles or video comments. In addition, publications of other well-known fake makers are distributed on these pages.

The administrator of the telegram channel mentioned in the description of the pages is an account under the nickname Serhii Pekh. His video message can also be found on some of the communities mentioned. Analysts of the project “Beyond the News” found out that this person has nothing to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He positions himself as an expert on the legalization of Ukrainians in Poland and an influencer. According to analysts, these communities were probably created for their further resale and monetization of content in general, using an increased level of trust in the military.

Thus, for the sake of profit, administrators play along with one of the goals of Russian propagandists - to cause distrust in the Ukrainian authorities and destabilize the situation in society by creating panic.

Twitter has a network of bots that, under the guise of ordinary users, spread anti-Ukrainian narratives, while applying social network trends. For example, under the hashtag #harniunia (cutie), such bots talk about a “nuclear strike” that “Russia has prepared and is about to strike”. Or they are convinced that Ukraine is doing the dirty work of the United States by fighting Russia. However, the most popular publications are distributed with the thesis that “the Union of Poland and Ukraine is futile”, because, they say, Poland should “somehow” take care of itself.

Thus, bots use a popular hashtag among Twitter users to destabilize sentiment and gently spread what they want. Like, if it is distributed by ordinary users, it is worth thinking about the information. However, the disseminated Russian narratives and anti-Ukrainian messages are part of the Russian propaganda used by Moscow against Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Such information appeared in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, in particular, on Facebook. The authors of the messages create separate communities and through them distribute posts with photographs of mutilated Ukrainian high-rise buildings with an appeal to write “Amen” in the comments and follow the link. Allegedly, after that the priest will pray for the people and there will be peace, there will be a victory for Ukraine.

The fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project drew attention to the case, referring to the NGO “CLEAR INFO”, which determined that these pages are supervised by a Chinese sect. At the same time, the groups are administered mainly in Spain. According to fact-checkers, active commentators are being recruited into a Chinese sect, which is now banned in that country. This is the so-called “Church of Almighty God”.

If you click on a link in messages with a call to write “Amen”, people are sent to the Facebook messenger. This is a chat with the user “Church of Almighty God”, where they offer to take part in an “international online lecture on the topic: How to get out of trouble and receive God's blessing”. They also promise that “this is a conversation that will give God's blessing, and the priest will pray for the will of all the faithful present”.

After that, the “Church of Almighty God” asked to add user “Oksana Oksana” as a friend, because “only she can add to the group” where the sermon will take place. Thus, Ukrainians continue to be recruited into the sect. New participants are recruited in a similar way in many countries, including Spanish speakers. If in the case of Ukraine communities mimic Orthodox Christians, in Western countries they mimic Catholics.

The “Church of Almighty God” (or “Eastern Lightning”) is a religious community that originated in China in 1991. Its founder, Zhao Wenshan, fled China in 2000 for the United States, where he received political asylum as a man persecuted by religious views. The main teaching of the sect is that the expected Second Coming of Christ has already arrived and that He lives now in the form of the Chinese Yan Xiangbin. This Chinese woman, according to the information available on the network, went to the United States with the founder of the sect and is (or at least was at that time) in a relationship with him.

Such a document was circulated in social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The document says that in separate battalions and brigades of territorial defense in the Kherson direction, “cases of desertion have become more frequent”. Allegedly, in order to avoid desertion, the “document” gives precautionary measures, including “neutralizing the fugitive military on the spot”.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council investigated this case and found that the document was fake. In addition, the first deputy chairman of the Kherson regional council, Yurii Sobolevskyi, also confirmed the falsity of the “document”. At the same time, as analysts explain, the “document” includes a number of inaccuracies, in particular:

The fake document does not comply with the formatting rules. For example, the secrecy label is not located in a specific place.

As experts say, there are no documents or orders to “neutralize” the fugitive military men. If a military man arbitrarily leaves the place of military service, he will receive punishment in accordance with the current legislation.

The BBC Disinformation Team found that the UK-registered publication Yala News has Syrian roots and distributes content that reflects the theses of the Russian propaganda media.

BBC analysts tracked Yala News's most popular videos over the course of a year and found that many of them resonated with Russia-sponsored disinformation. Thus, Yala News reported on the US plans to use birds as a biological weapon to carry diseases to Russia, the staging of massacres of civilians in Bucha, Zelenskyi’s video message to Ukrainians allegedly intoxicated, and the flight of the Ukrainian military from the front line. All this news was first published in the Russian propaganda media, and after a few hours such videos appeared on Yala News.

The analysts also said that the Yala Group (the parent company of Yala News) is registered in central London at an address shared with more than 65,000 other firms. There are no physical offices or Yala Group employees there.

With the help of geolocation tools, the BBC team was able to find photos of employees and offices of the Yala Group on Facebook. They are located in the suburbs of Damascus. Most of the employees' social media profiles also show they are based in the Syrian capital. This information was confirmed by one of the former employees of the company.

The founder and CEO of Yala Group, Syrian businessman Ahmad Moemna, lives in Dubai. When asked by the BBC team about the presence of pro-Russian videos on Yala News, he replied that the content provided on this news resource is objective and impartial.

However, specialists in the study of Russian disinformation told the BBC that the timing of the distribution of news videos and their similarity to the Kremlin theses may indicate that Yala News is likely serving as a tool for disseminating Russian propaganda through foreign media, so as not to look like these theses come directly from the Kremlin.

Russia often tries to spread misinformation to international audiences. For example, Detector Media investigated what kind of disinformation narratives Russia is spreading in Eastern Europe in order to achieve political goals.

Finland is a neutral state, after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it radically changed its status and became the 31st member of the largest military-political alliance. Now Russia borders NATO on the entire western border (except for Ukraine and puppet Belarus) and the Alliance controls the vast majority of the coast of the Baltic Sea. If Ukraine's desire to join NATO supposedly forced Russia to launch a preemptive strike through an invasion (first in 2014, then in 2022), then the real accession of neighboring Finland to the Alliance caused a much weaker reaction. Putin said that Moscow does not have such problems with Helsinki as with Kyiv. That is, there are no territorial disputes or other types of confrontations, which is why the reaction to Finland's entry into NATO is so soft. Such statements by the Kremlin sound like attempts to justify themselves and smooth things over. Russia reacted to Finland's accession to NATO with a number of propaganda messages, we have highlighted some of them.

1. Russian propagandists made a number of “strict remarks”. Allegedly, Finland has become a state unfriendly to Russia, so the Kremlin will “take military-technical measures” in response to NATO expansion. This message is intended to assure the domestic audience that Russia is ready for different scenarios. Allegedly, Russia is making a symmetrical (actually rather symbolic) retaliatory step. And although the border between NATO and Russia has doubled, if necessary, the Kremlin can fight back. But does a change in the geopolitical vector really mean an “anti-Russian turn”? Joining NATO is about own security and the security of the region, and not about hostility towards Russia.

2. Propagandists claim that Finland's membership in NATO means the loss of Finnish sovereignty and geopolitical weight. According to them, Finland has become one of the weak world players, which does not decide anything in international affairs. In fact, joining NATO means strengthening the defense capability, and collective security only reinforces the synergy and complementarity of the forces of the allies. Such remarks on the part of the Kremlin propagandists are an attempt to shift the attention and present the biggest problem of Moscow: the entry of a neighboring state into an unfriendly (according to Russia) military-political union is a problem of Finland itself.

3. Joining the Alliance will be costly for Finland. The key indicator of allied military spending reaches 2% of GDP, so the state’s economy will barely “pull” the defense budget, this will hit the pockets of ordinary Finns, Russian propaganda assures. After the start of Russian military aggression against Ukraine, NATO countries faced the need to increase defense spending, so the next summit in Vilnius may agree on a minimum level of defense spending for NATO members at the level of 2%, which was previously considered a desirable indicator. In fact, in 2022, Finland’s defense budget has almost reached the coveted mark of 1.96%, so the manipulation of the Russians looks unconvincing. Rather, this is another attempt to divert attention from the main issue - the fact of entry - from the topic of economics.

4. NATO does not plan to deploy its troops in Finland. Propaganda is trying to reassure that Russia has everything under control, and the actions of the Alliance on its eastern flank will be coordinated with the Kremlin. Again, this is a game for the domestic audience and an attempt to reassure the discouraged Russians, who were told that the next wave of NATO expansion to the east was unacceptable, but when it took place, the propaganda began to assure that nothing terrible had happened, because NATO soldiers in Scandinavia will not approach the Russian border.

5. Finland is in NATO, and Ukraine is led by the nose with promises. Like, Finland easily joined the Alliance, while Ukraine is on a thorny path because of the war, huge losses and unpopular reforms. Thus, Russian propaganda wants to devalue the Euro-Atlantic course of Ukraine and convince that Kyiv's hopes of joining NATO are useless. In reality, a state that is at war cannot be accepted into the organization, because this will automatically mean the activation of the fifth article of the Washington Treaty (an attack on any ally is regarded as an attack on the entire Alliance). In 2018, Ukraine was recognized as an aspiring country (a state intending to become a member of the Alliance). And in 2022, Ukraine announced that it was applying to join NATO, however, this document is purely political and has no legal significance. Despite this, Ukraine is a candidate for membership, and we have every chance to realize our intention after the final victory of Ukraine in the war.

Against the backdrop of news about the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Poland, disinformation messages appeared in the information space, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, with the help of which propaganda is trying to advance its agenda. A team of analysts of Detector Media has identified the most common of them.

1. Zelenskyi dreams of uniting part of the territory of Ukraine with Poland

Pro-Russian telegram channels spread the message that the main purpose of Zelenskyi’s visit to Poland is to “bring together state institutions”, because “Zelenskyi wants to assimilate with Poland”. The authors of the messages convince readers that the Polish leadership “does not cease to be interested in the western part of Ukraine”, and Zelenskyi will gladly help them and give up the territory.

This is not a new message of Russian propaganda as they systematically claims that they want to tear Ukraine apart and cut off its territories. Like, first of all, Poland wants to seize the West of Ukraine, because it is important for the Poles to restore “historical justice”. Russian propaganda spread a number of fakes and manipulations on this topic. For example, about the recruitment of Poles into the Ukrainian army or about Poland building up its military force to seize the territories of Ukraine.

In fact, the head of the international policy bureau at the Office of the Polish President, Marcin Przydacz, said that the negotiations between Zelenskyi and Duda would cover “the entire spectrum of Polish-Ukrainian relations, starting with security policy”. He even assured that historical issues would be raised during the talks.

However, propagandists need such messages in order to expose Poland as an aggressor and level the assistance that Poland provides to Ukraine in the conditions of war. Allegedly, in fact, Poland is helping Ukraine not because of good intentions.

2. Zelenskyi’s arrival in Poland means the formation of an “anti-Russian coalition”

This thesis was propagated by propagandists to feed the narrative of the existence of a “collective West”. Allegedly, all the actions taken by the Ukrainian leadership are aimed at discrediting Russia. According to the authors of the messages, during the meeting with Andrzej Duda, there were “mentions of Russia”.

It is not about any “anti-Russian coalition”. Of course, the leaders of Poland and Ukraine probably gathered to discuss security issues first of all. However, such negotiations are caused by unprovoked Russian aggression. The so-called anti-Russian coalition is a response to Russia's criminal actions against Ukraine and its civilians. Russian propaganda claims that Zelenskyi is only looking for a reason to convince the whole world that Russia and Russians are bad, but in fact “Western countries are sick with Russophobia”. However, global condemnation and sanctions against the aggressor are the consequences of Russia's criminal actions, and not vice versa, as Moscow wants to present it.

3. Zelenskyi's words should be interpreted as “preparation for the surrender of Bakhmut”

Anonymous telegram channels spread the thesis about the so-called “surrender of Bakhmut by Zelenskyi”. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi deliberately left for Poland in order to divert the attention of Ukrainians and the rest of the world from the “situation” with Bakhmut. According to propagandists, Zelenskyi does not want to receive a stream of negativity in his direction, so he “runs away to Poland”.

As proof, the propagandists quote Zelenskyi from a joint press conference with the President of Poland that “if there are even hotter events and the danger of personnel losses due to the encircling of the city, the appropriate correct decisions will be made on the spot”. However, these words do not indicate that the President of Ukraine is running away from problems. Volodymyr Zelenskyi assesses all the risks and does not talk about the alleged withdrawal of troops from Bakhmut.

Moreover, the authors do not add any evidence confirming the thesis about the “surrender of Bakhmut” in their publications. Thus, they shift the responsibility for what is happening in the city from the Russian army to the Ukrainian president. It was Russia that attacked Ukraine, and it is precisely because of the actions of the enemy army that the situation in individual Ukrainian cities and villages is difficult. However, Russian propaganda whitewashes itself and demonizes the Ukrainian president, who allegedly is not interested in events in his country.

According to the latest data, as of April 4, the Russian army continues to storm the city and concentrate its main efforts for the offensive, in particular in the Bakhmut direction.

4. Most Western leaders meet with Xi Jinping, while Zelenskyi is “only” going to Poland

In this case, the authors of the messages contrast the meeting between the leaders of China and Russia with today's event. Like, Zelensky’s meeting with Andrzej Duda is “window dressing”, and Xi Jinping “meets only influential politicians”, attributing such a title to Putin in particular. So, Zelenskyi “only took advantage of the possible option”.

China expressed its position on Russia's war against Ukraine when, on February 24, 2023, their Foreign Ministry presented a plan to resolve the war. The document contains 12 points, which, according to Beijing, will contribute to the end of the war. Among them are a ceasefire and hostilities, the start of peace talks, and an end to unilateral sanctions.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was skeptical about China's plan, arguing that Beijing “does not deserve much credibility” because it “failed to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

China formally recognizes the territorial integrity of Ukraine and has never declared Russian recognition of Crimea or other Ukrainian regions that Russia wants to seize. However, for example, China is at the time of voting for the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, which provide for the recognition of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And on the eve of his visit to Moscow, in an article for “Rossiiskaya Gazeta” (Russian Article), Xi Jinping called the war “a total aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis”. In addition, China can supply Russia with weapons to help it continue the war against Ukraine.

However, by spreading such a message, propagandists want to devalue the role of the President of Ukraine and show who really “leads the agenda”: Xi Jinping and Putin. Allegedly, Zelenskyi is not so “influential” to meet such “politicians”.

On April 4, former US President Donald Trump was formally arrested in order to be charged in court on 34 paragraphs in criminal proceedings for financial fraud. They are talking about the manipulation of funds intended for the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential election. The case was the first in history criminal proceedings opened against the President of the United States. This information drive interested the authors of anonymous telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric. Detector Media singled out the main theses from their messages.

Trump's arrest should be regarded as US interference in the presidential election

Propagandists claim that the arrest of Donald Trump is a trick of the Democrats in power. They say that the opponents are afraid of a stronger competitor, and it is no coincidence that the process fell precisely at the beginning of his new election campaign.

Thus, the authors of such messages play along with the message of Trump himself that the results of the American presidential elections are easy to rig. This he claimed during his loss in the 2020 elections, calling them rigged. As of 2021, Donald Trump appeared in a number of criminal cases not only as a witness, so the new criminal proceedings against him cannot be called sudden. In particular, we are talking about cases of financial fraud in the Trump Organization fund, fraud with tax documents, neglection of the US Constitution during the presidency, abuse of power, sexual harassment and fraud during the distribution of family heritage. However, American law does not prohibit campaigning even with suspicion in a criminal case, which Donald Trump is now using.

If Trump wins the next election, Joe Biden should be arrested for his son's machinations in Ukraine and sanctions should be lifted against Derkach and Dubinskyi.

Propagandists claim that current US President Joe Biden has many more sins than Trump. An example of this is the situation with the Ukrainian company Burisma, which was led by Hunter Biden, the son of the American president. Moreover, according to propagandists, Trump, subject to his return to the White House, must lift sanctions from Ukrainian ex-people's deputies Andrii Derkach and Oleksandr Dubinskyi, because allegedly they were right and tried to expose Biden's deals.

Thus, propagandists substitute concepts and divert attention from Trump's actions. Like, Trump is bad, but others are even worse. The details of the Burisma scandal were already actively discussed during the impeachment of Donald Trump in 2019, when he tried to put pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Trump has demanded a speedy investigation into the Burisma case in exchange for military and financial assistance.

Trump trial judge is incompetent

In their messages, propagandists refer to Politico materials that the judge conducting the current proceedings against the ex-president of the United States is biased, therefore the consideration of the case is unfair and cannot be recognized as legitimate. The authors of the messages draw such conclusions on the basis of the fact that the judge issued sentences that are disappointing for Trump in a number of other cases related to the finances of the ex-president and his institutions. However, they are far-fetched, since they are made purely on the basis of the above statements.

By spreading such messages, propagandists want to show that the American judiciary is corrupt and cannot be trusted. Like, the United States teaches us, but they themselves have a lot of problems. However, propagandists once again take specific statements out of context. The original materials on this topic say that the judge is not biased. On the contrary, it is said that he is better suited to the case due to significant experience with cases involving Trump.

Now the US will forget about the war in Ukraine

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric claim that the Donald Trump case will attract attention in the information space of the United States, so Ukrainians can already forget about support from the United States. Like, everyone will now think about the elections of 2024 and the fate of Trump.

Thus, the authors of the messages seek to show that the United States is gradually distancing itself from the war in Ukraine. However, the next face-to-face meeting on this Trump case will take place in December this year. Accordingly, Trump will continue to attract the attention of the world only as part of his presidential campaign. The war in Ukraine is one of the main issues among the programs of potential candidates, and even Trump does not bypass it.

Even if Trump is found guilty, the maximum he will receive is a fine.

Propagandists say: no one will jail Trump, they don’t give prisoners for financial fraud, so one shouldn’t worry.

In this case, they play down the problem and leave hope for Trump's return to the White House. During the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, the ex-president praised Putin, and now, during his election campaign, he repeats that he would end the war in 24 hours. Numerous investigations during his presidency proved Trump's ties to Russia, which influenced his political decisions. This explains the hopes of the Russians - Trump can isolate the United States from the war in Ukraine and play in favor of Russia. However, the current proceedings are criminal, not administrative, and as a result, the ex-president can really be put behind bars. However, American law does not prohibit campaigning even from there.

On the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, Russian institutions of public diplomacy in Poland, namely the “Russian houses” in Gdansk and Warsaw, distributed propaganda rhetoric on their official pages on social networks.

Analysts of the Polish project Demagog drew attention to this. In particular, they found reposts of a mini-rally on the occasion of congratulations for Russia on the “reunification of Crimea” from the Polish people on the Facebook pages of “Dom” (House). They say that the Poles really support Russia and have long recognized Crimea as part of Russia. However, the video that was distributed on these pages shows that only a few people can be found at the “rally”.

“Russian houses” is an institution aimed at spreading Russian culture and language abroad. However, since it is directly subordinate to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its rhetoric coincides with that of the department. The case involving the annexation of Crimea is not alone. Specialists from the same Demagog project also talked about how the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine were called Russian ones on the official accounts of “Russian houses” in social networks. Thus, the propagandists want to try to legitimize the violation of international law, which is in fact the temporary occupation of Ukrainian lands.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine has placed a number of Russian financial institutions under international sanctions, making it more difficult to receive or send funds from Russia. This issue is especially relevant for Russians living in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. However, Telegram helps them bypass financial restrictions by providing a platform for money transfers from and to Russia without the participation of banks under sanctions.

Analysts of the site investigaci.cz found out how this scheme works in the Czech Republic. According to their findings, there are anonymous channels on Telegram, where people who have crypto wallets offer their services as live intermediaries and at the same time exchangers. After an agreement with the sender and a transaction through a crypto wallet, a special person receives the funds, exchanges them for the desired currency and personally gives this money to the recipient only after he or she says a special password. The transfer fee is low as intermediaries earn funds on the scheme due to the special exchange rate. According to Transparency International, about $400,000 was withdrawn this way.

All participants in this scheme choose Telegram because of its anonymity and the lack of strict monitoring of financial transactions. This scheme is not the only one on Telegram that helps Russians bypass sanctions. For example, in the messenger one can find a bot that helps Russians buy a subscription to Spotify, which stopped working in Russia in response to the outbreak of a full-scale war against Ukraine.

Propagandists are constantly spreading information that allegedly neighboring countries of Ukraine from its western border are preparing to attack and occupy part of it. If earlier anonymous one-time accounts were used for this, now pro-Russian bloggers are also spreading such rhetoric.

Analysts of the NotaYenota project drew attention to this tendency. They noticed that in the network of telegram channels spreading Russian rhetoric, there were more messages that Romania and Poland were already preparing to occupy Ukraine, and the local population was only happy about this. Like, why does Ukraine need evil Europe which divided it. NotaYenota specialists also claim that such activation occurred simultaneously with the launch of targeted advertising for materials with a similar message.

In this way propagandists want to again divert attention from the crimes of the Russians and shift responsibility for them to other forces. Like, Russia allegedly cares about the Ukrainians, and Europe is only looking for an opportunity to stab in the back and betray Ukraine. This is not the first time that Russians have resorted to such a message. Detector Media has already investigated the danger of the narrative that Poland is allegedly going to occupy the Ukrainian western part.

On March 18, in the Polish city of Kielce, a conference “Does war threaten us?” (Czy grozi nam wojna?) was held. The event was broadcast live on YouTube, and the speakers were those who have been spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the Polish information space for a long time. Specialists of the Polish project Demagog highlighted the most important anti-Ukrainian messages from the conference.

1 Yanukovych was stripped of power in an anti-democratic way

One of the speakers noted that allegedly the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was deprived of power contrary to the principles of democracy, and one should not call him a usurper or a dictator. To prove his thesis, he says that in 2010 Yanukovych was elected in elections that were held “according to all democratic standards”.

Propagandists thus again want to discredit Euromaidan and its influence on Ukrainian society. Like, this is a coup d'etat, which was organized by Washington to bring Ukraine to the brink. However, one of the reasons for the start of Euromaidan was the laws and decisions of Yanukovych, which went against public opinion, and protest is an important element of democratic processes in Europe, especially in Ukraine.

2. Ukraine will no longer return Crimea, and Kyiv started the war in Donbas

At the conference, the opinion was also voiced that the future of Ukraine was supposedly very vague, and the Russians made sure that Crimea remained “in their hands”.

Thus, propagandists want to legitimize and justify the illegal actions of Russia. Like, why does Ukraine need Crimea if it itself is falling apart? However, it was Russia that destabilized the region with its actions and illegally annexed Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories. It was Russia that also started the war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, hiding behind the “protection of the Russian-speaking population” of these regions.

3. Kyiv regime forbids Ukrainians to speak Russian

The speakers of the event argued that Ukrainians from Donbas are afraid that “they are forced to learn a new language, that children will now speak Ukrainian ... They want a referendum”.

Through this message, propagandists want to demonize the Ukrainian authorities and justify Russia's crimes by “protecting the Russian-speaking population”. However, in addition to the fact that the Ukrainian language has always been the only state language, and Ukrainian legislation does not impose restrictions on the language of everyday communication, Russia arranges air attacks mainly on cities and regions where the use of the Russian language is common.

4. Everyone was silent when Ukraine bombed Donbas for 8 years

At the conference, one could also hear that “for 8 years, people living in the Donbas were often bombed, fired upon, and no one somehow wept over the fate of those children who died in schools…”. They say that this did not bother anyone in Ukraine and Poland, and Kyiv fired at these people.

This message is a classic example of Russian disinformation. Thus, the propagandists want to justify the crimes of the Russians. It seems that a full-scale war against Ukraine is revenge for the suffering of the inhabitants of Donbas. However, it was not Ukraine, but Russia that started hostilities there in 2014 and is ruthlessly destroying the territory of the region.

5. The war against Ukraine is part of a major plan of the world government, and very soon Ukraine and Poland will turn into “Ukropolin”.

The speakers of the event said that the war was started in order for Europe to start building “New Jerusalem, Heavenly Jerusalem, Crimean California, New Khazaria, Ukropolin”. Moreover, as proof of these words, they claim that the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has already stated that Poland and Ukraine will allegedly unite into one state.

In this case, the propagandists turn to the now popular conspiracy theories to shift the responsibility for the crimes of the Russians to someone else. Like, these are all the tricks of the world government, and we are all just hostages of political games. In the answer above, one can also see anti-Semitic overtones: according to conspiracy theorists, the world government consists of Jews and in this way they take revenge for all the bad things that happened to them before. However, if to talk about Duda’s speech, which the speakers refer to, it is about the speech of May 3, 2022, where, within the full context, one can understand that the Polish president is talking about the amount of assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, in this speech, he even emphasizes that Poland will help “the restoration of Ukraine: strong, sovereign, independent”.

Such a “manual” is distributed on the telegram channels of the Russian segment and propaganda media. The reports say that Ukrainian journalists were allegedly provided with “manuals” on how to properly cover the events in the Bakhmut direction. Among the above “recommendations” it is forbidden to “express doubts about the victory of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Bakhmut direction” and “speak positively about the enemy”.

However, there is no such “a manual”. Hanna Maliar, a Ukrainian politician, public figure and Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, noted that “manuals” are not published for Ukrainian journalists, and that they are not real. The politician says that there is public information in the Ukrainian information space, so “you don’t need to transfer it in papers”. According to the politician, public information about current events is distributed daily in the Ukrainian information space, in particular, in the Bakhmut direction. Hanna Maliar cites the evening addresses of the President and daily publications from the Ministry of Defense or the General Staff as an example.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reports that Kherson residents are receiving calls allegedly on behalf of the International Organization for Migration. The attackers are asking to name the code received in an SMS message supposedly from an international organization, the local regional state administration noted.

According to experts, the International Organization for Migration does not make phone calls. These are scammers trying to withdraw funds from bank cards and steal personal data. At the same time, one should not answer such calls.

Such a disinformation campaign was recorded by specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. As they say, in the telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, there are messages about “Ukrainian Nazis who hate other religions”, including Islam. The authors of the messages are trying to convince that “Ukraine is a godless/Satanist state”, in particular, by spreading fake stories about the burning of the Koran by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and so on.

As experts explain, the purpose of this disinformation campaign is to stir up sectarian strife and demonize Ukraine and Ukrainians in the eyes of Muslims. In addition, analysts say another goal of the disinformation campaign is to increase the level of mobilization among Muslim believers.

The second important factor was the start date of the great religious holiday of Muslims Ramadan. Before that, the propagandists received training manuals stating that with the help of fakes and disinformation campaigns, they should ignite an interreligious conflict between Ukrainians and Muslims, which should develop into a religious war. No wonder the fake about the burning of the Koran was recorded on March 15, the international day against Islamophobia.

Consequently, the Russians are trying to demonize the Ukrainians and present them as enemies of all peoples. Russian propaganda positions Ukraine as an aggressor, but hides its own actions. At the same time, propagandists reflect their actions in this way and say that it is Ukrainians who kill civilians, profess hatred for many peoples, and despise other cultures and religions.

The State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine reported that in January-February of this year, the governmental computer emergency response team CERT-UA handled more than three hundred cyber incidents and cyber attacks, which is almost half as many as in the corresponding period last year. The department explains the then high activity of Russian hackers by the preparation of Russia for a full-scale invasion.

Since the beginning of 2023, CERT-UA has recorded an increase in the number of cyberattacks for the purpose of espionage, with an emphasis on maintaining permanent access to the organization. In addition, most of the malware distributed by Russian hackers is data collection and remote access to devices.

According to specialists from the State Service for Special Communications, Russia is thus preparing for a long war and is trying to obtain any information that can give an advantage in the war against Ukraine, including data on the mobilization and logistics of Western weapons.

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, new facts have emerged confirming that even in the conditions of war, Russia attracts minors to spread disinformation in Ukraine.

In particular, the SSU exposed a group of teenagers involved in the dissemination of a series of anonymous reports about pseudo-mining in the capital and other regions of Ukraine.

According to the SSU report, teenagers “mined” the buildings of state authorities, as well as social infrastructure facilities. The investigation established that the members of the group were remotely coordinated by representatives of the Russian special services. For coordination, a specialized Internet community was created, in which teenagers from Ukraine were regularly attracted.

According to the investigation, letters about the mining were sent on behalf of outsiders and with the help of special programs they hid the localization.

The Security Service of Ukraine reported that the man justified the actions of the Russian military and denied armed aggression against Ukraine. In particular, he published comments of a conspiracy nature, referring to the theories of world government. The posts of the Transcarpathian were openly anti-Semitic and pro-Russian, and were also in tune with Russian theories about the explosions at Nord Stream 2 and the Crimean Bridge.

The man also published anti-government materials, where he denied the war in Ukraine and called the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi a dictator, saying that Russian referendums in the temporarily occupied territories are legitimate.

Propagandists often resort to conspiracy theories to justify Russia's actions and divert attention from Russian crimes. Detector Media has already written about the inventions of the Russians about the explosions at Nord Stream 2.

Such a disinformation campaign was recorded by specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. According to them, telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are reporting “high prices” for food products in Ukraine. Allegedly, food prices are skyrocketing in Ukraine, and therefore it is necessary to “surrender to Russia as soon as possible, because everything is cheaper there”. The authors of the messages also attach photos of price tags from Ukrainian supermarkets, comparing them with Russian ones.

The Center for Strategic Communications explains that it is because of Russia that food prices are rising in Ukraine and in the world. Due to the occupation of a part of the south of Ukraine, where farmers are not allowed to work fully, as well as due to the blocking of the “grain corridor”, the world is faced with another crisis.

Since it has become much more difficult to grow vegetables under the conditions of full-scale war and continuous Russian terror, internal supplies in Ukraine are not enough. Imported goods are more expensive, because in stores there is really an increase in prices.

At the same time, the thesis about a stable Russian economy is not true. According to the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 2022 has been a bad year for the Russian economy. According to experts, in 2022, Russia's gross domestic product fell by at least 2.2% in the best scenario and to 3.9% in the worst case. The Russian economy will shrink in 2023 as well. GDP is expected to contract by 5.6% or 3.3% according to the organizations.

Thus, propagandists want to nourish the narrative that Ukraine is allegedly uninhabitable due to lack of electricity or high prices for utilities and food products. The authors of the messages are trying to sow panic among Ukrainians in order to destabilize sentiment and create a feeling that nothing will change.

We recall that earlier analysts of Detector Media analyzed a manipulation in which they claimed that Ukraine would soon become uninhabitable.

There is a telegram channel on the network, which, on its own behalf, sends telegram messages to users, urging them to provide information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine: coordinates, photos, videos, or even software. According to the authors of the messages, “our Ukrainian brothers have become hostages of the situation because of the confrontation between NATO and Russia”. The authors of the messages claim that “it is in their power to stop this madness, because the organization acts in the interests of the people”.

The Ministry of Defense notes that during the war it is fatally dangerous to report the presence or absence of weapons and military equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and, moreover, with reference to settlements.

Thus, the authors of the messages lure information from users about the location of the AFU equipment and not only. Helping the so-called organization, which “acts solely in the interests of the people”, first of all, users harm the Ukrainian army and endanger the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state. At the same time, the funds serve only as a bait, because the punishment for such a crime can be much more serious.

We recall that the Verkhovna Rada amended Art. 114-2 of the Criminal Code, which regulates the unauthorized dissemination of information, in particular, on the movement or deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or military formations.

According to the law, the dissemination of information about the movement or location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or other military formations of Ukraine, if such information was not placed in the public domain by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or without obtaining a written permission to disseminate it, committed in a state of martial law or a state of emergency, is punishable by deprivation freedom for a period of 5 to 8 years. In some cases, the punishment can be up to 12 years in prison.

As of December 2022, law enforcement officers opened about 200 criminal proceedings for the illegal dissemination of information about the movement of weapons and the location of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Analysts of the international project “Fireworks of Lies” analyzed about 18 thousand accounts (including channels and chats) related to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and identified the main trends of Russian disinformation on the Telegram of this region. Detector Media has highlighted the main points of the investigation published on investigaci.cz.

In the telegram space, the number of channels in Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Croatian, Romanian and German with pro-Russian narratives has increased. They also differ in the form of presentation of content - some of them try to provide information as seriously as possible, while the other part presents these problems subjectively or even on behalf of “clairvoyants” and “fortune tellers”. Russian propagandists are well aware of the level of trust in them among the ordinary population in the region and use this to spread their own narratives.

In particular, in such channels one can find a repetition of a number of Russian narratives about the war in Ukraine: they say that this is all the West, there will be nothing left of Ukraine, but that’s how they need it, because there are Nazis. But in addition to this, they intertwine concern about the domestic political situation in the countries of the region. It seems that this war is not our business, we do not want to suffer from its consequences.

In addition to matching Russian messages, these channels also play conspiracy theories. In particular, they contain a lot of materials on the topic of the “world destruction plan” of the “world government”, in which the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine are only “stages”. According to conspiracy theorists, Russia started the war to fight “this swamp”, as the world's political and economic elites are sometimes called.

Thus, Russian propagandists want to disorient the inhabitants of Central and Eastern Europe and shift the responsibility for Russia's crimes to the victims of aggression and those who help it. In addition, the destabilization of the situation in Europe helps Russia to carry out its aggression and build a platform for further spread. Detector Media has already examined the disinformation on the German telegram and highlighted its main narratives.

In the Czech segment of Telegram, the number of anonymous channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric in Czech has increased. This was researched by analyst Josef Shlerka from the Czech project investigaci.cz. Detector Media outlined the main theses from his article and found out why it is so important for Russian propagandists to maintain influence in the Czech Republic.

Shlerka says that such Czech-language telegram channels usually repost content from foreign sources that are considered conspiratorial and inaccurate. They often repeat conspiracy narratives, such as the “rigged” elections in the United States in 2020 or that earthquakes in Turkey are man-made. Moreover, most of the publications coincide with the news of “Sputnik” being blocked in the EU.

In addition, these telegram channels tried to destabilize the Czech domestic political situation. For example, one of the most popular of them posted a fake video of the then-Czech presidential candidate Petr Pavel, where he allegedly talks about the need to go to war against Russia.

The researcher also divides them according to the genre of news reporting: one category tries to seriously provide information, while the other expresses its support for Russia as informally as possible. All these channels have one thing in common: they openly sympathize with Russia, repeating the narratives of its propaganda.

Some of these channels contain grammatical errors in their Czech messages. From this, the researcher concludes that the authors are probably not Czechs and use machine translation to create content. Most of these channels also do not reveal the identity of the message authors and use Czech bank accounts to raise funds to keep the channels running.

Thus, Russian propagandists want to sow doubt among the Czechs about the appropriateness of supporting Ukraine. Like, don't let the West rule you, support your state brothers. This is of particular importance if to consider the historical past of the Czech Republic and its connection with the Soviet Union.

According to the State Service for Special Communications, Russian hackers distribute malicious files through free access to torrent trackers. In particular, if such files are installed on a computer, hackers gain access to the contents of the computer and remain invisible for a long time.

The department reports that hackers use Trojans to copy passwords from different services and find out any information. They trojanize ISOs and installation files and host them for free.

According to the State Service for Special Communications, in many post-Soviet countries, system administrators use unlicensed software distributed via torrent trackers in institutions and companies of various forms of ownership. Thus, they provide Russian intelligence services with access to the contents of working machines.

The State Service for Special Communications says that ordinary Ukrainians who install unlicensed software from unofficial sources and torrents can also become victims of hackers.