(Paris) Deprived of the RT and Sputnik media, banned by the EU after the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has not given up the information war on the Old Continent and elsewhere, playing on the flaws in the internet and relays of circumstances, with great help from the checkbook.
Posted yesterday at 11:05 p.m.
For once, the Russian businessman Evguéni Prigojine, founder of the Wagner mercenary group and reputed to be close to Vladimir Putin, boasted on Monday of carrying out manipulation operations in the middle of the campaign for the mid-term elections. -mandate in the United States, after years of denials.
“The battle for narrative threads continues, not only in the West, but also in Latin America and Africa where the Kremlin is very effective in spreading its narratives and propaganda,” Katarina Klingova, a researcher for the pressure group Globsec, based in Bratislava.
In Europe, the Belgian NGO EU DisinfoLab, specializing in the fight against disinformation, reported in mid-September a very sophisticated influence operation – launched in May 2022 and still ongoing – consisting in creating dozens of clone sites of genuine media (including Bild, 20 minutesAnsa, Tea Guardian or RBC Ukraine) to distribute fake articles, videos and polls.
All relayed by “networks of pages or fake Facebook accounts”, and an advertising campaign on the social network for an amount of around 105,000 dollars, says the NGO.
Workaround
While it remains difficult to attribute this operation to a particular actor, “many elements point to the involvement of actors based in Russia”, affirms EU DisinfoLab, describing narratives all “aligned with Russian propaganda “.
At the beginning of July, a spokeswoman for the Bulgarian government accused Russia of paying up to 2,000 euros (2,714 CAD) per month to public figures, elected politicians or journalists, to defend the interests of the Kremlin in the country.
As early as March, the European Union banned the media RT and Sputnik, without succeeding in preventing them from broadcasting content. To this end, they play with the interstices of the Internet: creation of new domain names, mirror sites or apparently independent sites, reproducing word for word RT content, as recently noted by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, established in London.
They also remain accessible via a simple VPN (virtual private network) or on online video platforms, such as Odysee or Rumble, where the assumed absence of moderation gives pride of place to conspiracy, radical and anti-system theories.
Recently reported to the French authorities, who had clearly escaped this circumvention, Odysee and Rumble ceased to broadcast the content of RT and Sputnik in France at the end of October. But elsewhere in Europe, the spread continues, AFP noted.
These two media are “just the tip of the iceberg. There are a plethora of tools and actors used by the Kremlin in its influence operations — from its vast media machine to news agencies, embassies and its representatives around the world, troll factories, hackers , the Orthodox Church, various NGOs, etc. “, details Katarina Klingova.
sow confusion
“Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in Ukraine and the blocking of RT and Sputnik, there has been a recomposition of the information tool and Russian influence abroad” around in particular a large galaxy of Telegram channels, blogs, Twitter accounts, Facebook and others, explains to AFP Kevin Limonier, researcher on Russian-speaking cyberspace.
This blockage also came too late. These media have succeeded in creating extremely complex networks of delivery of narrative threads that no longer necessarily depend on the Russian state. Russian influence has become commonplace and entrenched, especially within a number of anti-system circles, yellow vests, anti-vaccines, etc.
Kevin Limonier, Russian-speaking cyberspace researcher
For a long time, the strategy “has been to create confusion by mixing the true and the false, by not hesitating to disguise reality and by creating simple explanations for complex problems”, he adds.
It also aims to stir up tensions and weaknesses. Some observers thus anticipate information campaigns around the themes of energy and heating as winter approaches, which could put a strain on European support for Ukraine in the event of food rationing. ‘electricity.
“The informational weapon remains a low-cost tool, compared to conventional weapons, and can have a potentially strong impact. For example, in the context of elections, if you are able to influence political leaders potentially wishing to stop aid to Ukraine”, points out to AFP Brian Liston, analyst at Recorded Future, an American company specializing in in cybersecurity.