Propaganda diary: a review of Russian disinformation in European media in July 2023

Poland

During the monitoring of 12 Polish media outlets, we identified 181 cases of disinformation that can be grouped into 21 narratives. The most active pro-Russian media in Poland promoted narratives about Western control over Ukraine and its use for their own purposes (37 cases), the undemocratic nature of Ukraine (26), as well as disinformation regarding weaponry provided to Ukraine by Western partners and Nazism in Ukraine (15 cases in each narrative).

Disinformation about Western control over Ukraine traditionally remains one of the most widespread narratives in Russian propaganda in Europe. Within this narrative, pro-Russian Polish media once again attempt to convince readers that “certain NATO countries” are using Ukraine as an instrument to weaken Russia, that the West is colonizing Ukraine, and that it is essentially “creating a monster that devours its own citizens.” The Ukrainian government allegedly accepts this amid the prospect of Eurointegration, but it is portrayed as an unattainable goal, and even if attainable, not worth the expended resources, as claimed by propagandists. Disinformation authors typically employ a tactic of projection, attributing actions or intentions of Russia to its adversaries. Hence, the authors assert that the West prolongs the Russian-Ukrainian war to divert voters’ attention from internal issues in their countries.

Within the narrative about Ukraine not being a democratic country, we encounter new fakes: claims of a ban on Ukrainians communicating with residents of Russia (even retaining a Russian phone number on Ukrainian territory allegedly leads to arrest), constant street raids involving phone checks and apartment searches, the “total persecution” of Orthodox believers and generally those with different beliefs. In this regard, propagandists argue that Volodymyr Zelenskyi has even surpassed Hitler, who is concurrently idolized by the president. The authors also cite quotes from Ukrainian collaborator Viktor Medvedchuk, alleging that Zelenskyi had supposedly “strangled any opposition” even before a full-scale invasion, and politicians advocating friendly relations with Russia were suppressed by the authorities. However, propagandists do not explain how Medvedchuk’s opposition party, the Opposition Platform — For Life, ceased its activities in the Ukrainian parliament only in April 2023, nearly 2 months after the large-scale invasion occurred.

When talking about the provided weaponry from partners, disinformation spreaders claim that the arms and equipment provided by Western partners do not reach the Ukrainian army and end up on the black market. However, the authors of these media outlets convince their readers that during the war, the Russian army destroyed almost all Leopard tanks provided by Poland and Portugal, the Ukrainian army cannot operate Challenger-2 tanks, and Western equipment is generally not meant for combat on Ukrainian terrain. Additionally, in pro-Russian media, decisions to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine are labeled as illegal and leading to “conflict escalation.”

Regarding the narrative about Nazism in Ukraine, propagandists employ long-standing falsehoods about the cult of Stepan Bandera and compare Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Hitler. Furthermore, a number of authors accuse the CIA of nurturing Ukrainian Nazism, including conducting secret training for “neo-Nazi anti-Russian groups.” It’s not surprising, propagandists claim, considering that in 2016, the US government allegedly lifted the ban on funding neo-Nazis, which had previously been imposed on the annual aid budget to Ukraine.

In addition, pro-Russian authors contributed to a narrative about Ukrainian refugees (13 cases). Poland leads in the number of refugees received from Ukraine, making them a frequent target of informational attacks by pro-Kremlin media. In one of the media outlets, Ukrainian refugees are compared to “devils” who “lack the principles of human morality,” freely bringing weapons into the EU that were supplied to Ukraine by Western partners, and allegedly selling them to terrorists and individuals with mental disorders, who are prohibited from owning weapons. The authors also attempt to persuade readers that in Ukraine, allegedly, “black transplantology” is thriving, and a cynical attitude towards human life prevails, hence accepting Ukrainian refugees is deemed dangerous.

Italy

As part of the monitoring of 13 Italian media outlets for July, we identified 95 cases of Russian disinformation, from which 21 narratives can be distinguished. The highest number of cases were found within narratives about the West using Ukraine for its own purposes (14 cases), the alleged necessity for Russia to start the war due to the actions of Ukraine and the West (11), as well as alleged threats of Ukraine to cause a nuclear catastrophe (8).

When discussing the West controlling and using Ukraine, Italian propagandists create the impression that cooperation with Western countries poses a greater threat to Ukraine than a potential defeat in a war with Russia. They emphasize the advantages of war for the West, claiming that NATO countries economically devastate Ukraine, “pump it with weapons” to test these weapons, and generally wage war against Russia “using the hands of Ukrainians.” To further confuse readers, propagandists assert that the EU is also a victim of the United States, as they effectively control the European Union. Some authors of fakes even equate Ukraine and Russia, stating that if Crimea were to return to Ukraine, NATO would benefit from its resources, implying that both countries would suffer a defeat.

The second largest pro-Russian narrative in the Italian media is that Russia was allegedly forced to start the war due to the actions of Ukraine and the West. To support this claim, media outlets once again propagate the fake that the Russian authorities invaded Ukraine due to NATO’s potential expansion, even though allegedly there was an agreement between representatives of NATO member countries and the USSR not to expand the organization into Eastern European territory. However, this is also untrue. Among the pro-Kremlin Italian media, we found another, even more absurd version — that Russia allegedly attacked Ukraine because the West supported the Revolution of Dignity, which “led to conflicts in Crimea and Donbas,” and later to a full-scale war. Additionally, a number of pro-Kremlin media outlets justify Russian aggression by claiming that the lands of Ukraine historically belong to Russia and the latter is unwilling to surrender “its” natural resources to the “fanatics of the Second Law,” hinting at Western countries.

The next most widespread Kremlin narrative is that Ukraine allegedly threatens to cause a nuclear catastrophe. Referring to anonymous sources, authors of fakes claim that NATO and Ukraine agreed to blow up the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to later blame Russia for it. In return, Ukraine was allegedly promised “temporary membership” in NATO, which would have been announced during the NATO summit on July 11th and 12th, and NATO countries would have fought against Russia alongside Ukraine. According to another version, the Ukrainian government is planning to give the order to attack the Zaporizhzhia NPP itself in order to “increase the funding coming from the West.” To strengthen this claim, propagandists also accuse Ukraine of sabotage at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and the Nord Stream. In this way, the authors attempt to confuse readers and simultaneously create an image of Ukraine as a money-hungry, irrational, and dangerous country.

Additionally, in the Italian information space, a narrative about the “grain deal” was spread (6 cases), specifically fakes that the grain exported by Ukraine supposedly did not reach its intended destinations but remained in Europe. As a result, claim the authors of fakes, the deal doesn’t address the food crisis and therefore loses its purpose. Propagandists also assert that Ukraine supposedly used the “grain corridor” to launch attacks on Russia, causing the latter to exit the “grain deal.”

Germany

In 15 German media outlets, we identified 166 cases of disinformation about Ukraine and 21 narratives. The highest number of cases are grouped within narratives about Western control over Ukraine (25), discrediting the Ukrainian army (24), and claims that Ukraine’s victory in the war is supposedly impossible (13).

Several German media outlets repeat old Russian assertions that the West, especially the USA, allegedly uses Ukraine to weaken Russia, while Western corporations and investment funds profit from the war. At the same time, propagandists “prophesy” a similar fate for the Poles and Lithuanians — the West supposedly plans to involve them in the war, with the President of Poland agreeing to this but “hiding it from his people.” Some media outlets even avoid going into details and simply present the use of Ukraine by the West as an accomplished fact: “The West views the Ukrainian army as a terrorist gang that it can use for its own gain, but for which it takes no responsibility.” They also quote the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov, asserting that Volodymyr Zelenskyi follows the orders of Western partners to eliminate the “Russian civilization” in Ukraine.

In an attempt to discredit the Ukrainian army, authors of fakes convince readers that Ukraine’s counteroffensive is unsuccessful. They even claim that NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg “acknowledged the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive” during a public forum of the North Atlantic Alliance. However, this is untrue. The actual quote from Stoltenberg goes as follows: “the Ukrainians  [during the counteroffensive] are gaining ground, pushing back to the Russian occupiers, but they meet fierce resistance.” To bolster the narrative of the counteroffensive’s failure, authors employ obvious fakes: they allege that the Ukrainian army has made no progress and has suffered colossal losses, which they claim are disproportionate to the losses of the Russian army.

When discussing Ukraine’s inability to win, propagandists reference Scott Ritter, a former American military officer with a pro-Russian stance. According to Ritter, Ukraine is destined for defeat because “NATO lacks troops, training, material-technical support, command, and control.” Therefore, NATO won’t be able to assist Ukraine, which is already “losing.” Additionally, citing anonymous military experts, authors of fakes write about significant losses in the Ukrainian military personnel and equipment, creating the impression that Ukraine’s defeat is inevitable. Some media directly state that Ukraine cannot win in any case, but in the same articles, they mention that if Ukraine gains an advantage on the front, Russia will initiate a nuclear war.

German propagandists also spread a narrative that Russia is actually helping Ukraine (2 cases), as the quality of life for Ukrainian citizens has “improved” under Russian occupation compared to life in “impoverished Ukraine.” As evidence of this improved quality of life, fakes refer to allegedly repaired roads from Donetsk to Mariupol, the construction of new residential complexes in Mariupol (in which Russians themselves are resettled), and the rebuilt streets after combat actions.

Hungary

In 13 Hungarian media outlets, we identified 164 cases of disinformation about Ukraine, and grouped them into 22 narratives. Among the largest are narratives about Western partners providing weapons to Ukraine and the alleged use of Ukraine by the West (21 cases in each narrative), as well as the narrative that Ukraine’s and the West’s actions forced Russia to start the war (14 cases).

The disinformation about the transfer of Western weaponry, spread by Hungarian propagandists, echoes the falsehoods of Polish media. Quoting Russian MFA spokesperson Maria Zakharova, the authors claim that the weapons do not reach the Ukrainian army. Instead, they allegedly end up in the hands of “neo-Nazi groups” participating in protests in France. Several media outlets also reference Putin’s statements to assert that providing weapons escalates the situation on the battlefield and artificially prolongs the war. However, the main emphasis of Hungarian pro-Kremlin media within this narrative is to persuade readers that no weaponry will supposedly improve the situation on the frontlines for Ukraine. In this way, the authors of the fakes instill the notion of the futility of resistance and the impossibility of Ukraine’s victory

Regarding the narrative about Western control over Ukraine, we observe long-standing fakes: Ukraine is allegedly used as a tool to weaken Russia, Ukraine allegedly lost its sovereignty, the Russian-Ukrainian war is portrayed as a proxy conflict benefiting the United States, and Ukrainians are being “sent to inevitable death.” To reinforce these claims, propagandists refer to Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, and Maria Zakharova. Additionally, propagandists quote pro-Russian U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who asserts that the United States manipulated Ukraine to instigate a full-scale war. The authors of fakes even argue that it is Western partners who force the Ukrainian army to defend and attack Russian positions, which allegedly contradicts the desires of Ukrainians themselves.

Moreover, according to propagandists’ testimonies, Western countries have allegedly forced Russia to initiate a large-scale war. Putin supposedly feared (and still fears) NATO expansion, and the alliance itself “provoked” Russia into igniting the war, as it allegedly attempted to turn Ukraine into an “informal military instrument of the organization.” Also, prior to the NATO summit held on July 11 and 12, propagandists cited statements from former U.S. Defense Department official Douglas Macgregor, suggesting that the organization’s decisions “could force Putin to launch an attack on Ukraine all the way to Odesa,” because Russia supposedly refrained from occupying Odesa only because the “Russian president is not seeking to escalate the conflict.” The authors of fakes contradict themselves once again — within a single sentence, they emphasize that Russia poses no threat to anyone and simultaneously claim that it “will react to steps that potentially threaten its interests.”

Hungarian pro-Kremlin media also propagate a narrative that Ukraine is not a democratic state (6 cases). They traditionally accuse Ukraine of “Hungarophobia,” alleging an unjust and unfair attitude towards Hungarians. This is allegedly manifested, in particular, by the German company Rheinmetall’s plan to build an armored vehicle production plant in the West of Ukraine. While the exact location of the construction is unknown, propagandists assert that the plant will be built in Transcarpathia deliberately to “make the Hungarian minority in Ukraine a target for Russian attacks.” Additionally, according to authors of pro-Russian media, the Ukrainian government is “erasing Ukraine’s history” by removing the Soviet emblem from the shield of the “Motherland-Mother” monument and allegedly persecuting Orthodox Church believers.

Slovakia

As part of monitoring 13 Slovak media outlets for June, we identified 169 cases of Russian disinformation, grouped into 21 narratives. The most widespread narratives were about Western control and use of Ukraine (28 cases), Nazism in Ukraine (19), and the narrative that Ukraine is a terrorist state (14).

Seeking to convince readers that the West controls and uses Ukraine for its own purposes, Slovak propagandists traditionally reference pro-Russian speakers: Maria Zakharova, Douglas Macgregor, Viktor Orban, and former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. They assert that Ukraine is completely controlled by the CIA, and that the United States and EU compel Ukraine to “conduct ethnic cleansing of Russian-speaking citizens in Donbas,” while NATO countries use Ukraine to test their weapons. Old fakes also resurface, claiming that the Euromaidan was orchestrated by the US and that the Russian-Ukrainian war was initiated by the West to weaken Russia. Thus, propagandists aim to undermine Ukraine’s subjectivity in the eyes of their readers and create an impression that Ukraine is essentially a victim of Western partners, rather than Russia.

At the beginning of July, 5 commanders of the “Azov” battalion returned from Turkey, sparking a new wave of fakes about Nazism in Ukraine — a persistent narrative of Russian propaganda. The authors of fakes insist that a “Bandera regime” operates in Ukraine, mentioning purported fascist chevrons on the uniforms of Ukrainian military personnel, labeling “Azov” as a “Nazi group,” and expressing surprise at how President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan dared to hand over “Nazis from ‘Azov'” to Ukraine. As evidence for their claims, the disinformation authors specifically quote the pro-Russian blogger Shariy, whom they describe as a “Russian-speaking Ukrainian who roots for his country.”

Furthermore, propagandists routinely accuse Ukraine of terrorism, arguing that the Ukrainian army allegedly shelled civilian objects in Taganrog and attacked the Crimean Peninsula with drones, allegedly targeting Russian civilians. Old fakes also resurface, claiming that Ukraine allegedly attempted to assassinate various Russian figures: Zakhar Prilepin, Daria Dugina, Konstantin Malofeev, and others. Through these means, the disinformation spreaders seek to portray Ukraine as a dangerous and unworthy country, undeserving of sympathy and assistance.

Slovak media also promoted a narrative about black transplantology in Ukraine (3 cases). Propagandists claimed that the Ukrainian medical clinic BioTexCom is using the services of foreign military personnel, “based on discovered facts,” to abduct and transport children from Ukraine. As expected, there is no evidence presented in the article — disinformation spreaders merely provide a link leading to a Politico article, which also lacks information about such crimes by the clinic. Additionally, we identified 6 cases within the narrative about military biological laboratories as well as drug laboratories in Ukraine: they allegedly create biological weapons capable of targeting specific ethnic groups. However, the propagandists write that the US plans to “move” the bio-labs to Kazakhstan, as there were supposedly “excellent scientific centers” established there during the Soviet era.

Czechia

In 15 Czech media outlets, we have identified 191 cases of disinformation about Ukraine, which can be grouped into 18 narratives. The largest number of cases are within the narrative discrediting the Ukrainian government (41 cases). The next most popular narrative is about the alleged control of Ukraine by the West, using it for their own purposes (35), as well as the narrative about Nazism in Ukraine (18).

Czech pro-Russian resources, attempting to discredit or ridicule representatives of the Ukrainian government, most commonly spread fakes about Volodymyr Zelenskyi: they claim he violated the Minsk agreements to provoke a full-scale war, formed “special gangs” forcibly sending Ukrainians to the front, and arranged for the supply of cassette ammunition to “maim and kill Ukrainian children”. Overall, propagandists assert that the “Zelenskyi regime” aims to “exterminate all Ukrainians”. Additionally, pro-Kremlin authors once again claim that it was the Ukrainian authorities who carried out the attack on the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Station and later plan to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, with the intention of later blaming Russia for it.

When discussing the use of Ukraine by the West, disinformation creators typically accuse Western partners of fueling a proxy war in which Ukraine fights for NATO’s interests. A number of Czech pro-Kremlin authors echo the sentiment of Hungarian propagandists, asserting that Western countries are merely profiting from the war and are the ones forcing Ukraine to initiate and continue counteroffensives, while simultaneously suggesting that the Ukrainian army supposedly demanded postponing the onset of these actions. The authors of fakes strive to demonize NATO in the eyes of readers, stating that member countries of the organization “manipulated” Ukrainians to start a “fratricidal war” and thereby strengthen their position on the global international stage. 

Regarding the accusations of Nazism against Ukraine, the highest number of fakes revolves around the claim that there are Nazis serving in the Ukrainian army, particularly within the “Azov” battalion. To bolster this fake, they refer to Marjorie Taylor Greene, a pro-Russian American politician, who referred to the Ukrainian army as “Nazi” on Twitter. Additionally, disinformation creators write that in Ukraine, for the purpose of reinforcing anti-Russian sentiments, “Nazi marches and marches glorifying Bandera” have been restored and legalized. Propagandists also recall the old fake about a “priest” who allegedly attacked Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s motorcade in Bulgaria and accused him of being a Nazi.

Another common narrative in Czech media concerns “mercenaries” fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine (10 cases). Propagandists attempt to scare readers by spreading fakes that foreign volunteers “can survive on the battlefield for no more than 4 hours” and compare Ukraine to Iraq and Afghanistan. Quoting an anonymous “British fighter,” the authors also claim that Ukrainian military commanders supposedly send foreigners to fight without training and with a small amount of weaponry. Additionally, Czech authors propagate Russian propaganda about Ukrainian refugees (4 cases). Disinformation creators refer to pro-Russian Polish media and assert that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the EU has accepted “thousands of Ukrainian criminals and terrorists who have been influenced by Nazi ideology for many years.”