Last week, Russian media expressed sheer disappointment with the parliament of Georgia which had budged to public demands and had dropped the law of foreign agents which appears to be a carbon copy of Russia's domestic equivalent.The propagandists claimed that Washington had clearly orchestrated the protests and even threatened to launch missiles at Tbilisi. In addition to that, they once again announced an imminent capture of Bakhmut within a matter of days and glorified Wagner group mercenaries. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

The rumours about the next big wave of mobilization are raising concerns among Russians. The government says not to worry as only a grave external threat for the Russian Federation might prompt a general mobilization. However, it looks like it is already there. According to the propagandists, Russia is on the brink of a “long and bloody conflict” with NATO. Their only hope lies with common Europeans who are tired of anti-Russian policy and want to go back to their usual lives. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

Russians are desperately trying to hide their concerns about Ukraine’s rearmament behind fake optimism. While seeking international support for their aggression, they keep fueling internal conflicts in Ukraine by calling its people to rise against the government and dishing dirt on both Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

Last week, Russian media quoted Putin’s bluster and calls to the Russian people to stand as one with the government. The hackneyed Russian fakes never stopped coming: the propagandists claimed that it was only mercenaries who were fighting for Ukraine while Western arms were being sold to terrorists. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

In the middle of October 2016 Russian Orthodox Church opened its “spiritual and cultural center” by placing a golden-domed cupola on top of the future Saint Trinity church in Quai Branly. Nothing out of the ordinary. Except the fact that the future church was being built at a stone’s throw from Palais de l'Alma which contains the Élysée Palace’s postal service and the private apartments of senior presidential advisers. What some might dismiss as conspirology is very likely to be an attempt of using this place of worship and other Russian churches as electronic surveillance centers to eavesdrop on French authorities, Russian influence researchers say.

The liberation of the western bank of Kherson oblast was in the focus of last week's publications on Russian media for obvious reasons. Russian commentators made no particular attempt to conceal their sadness and desperately insisted on the existence of some dirty deals. While trying to exonerate their military command for the failures in the battlefield, they came up with wild stories about Polish mercenaries who were allegedly the tip of the spear of the Ukrainian offensive.All those efforts point at the fact that they just cannot admit a humiliating military defeat from the “khokhols” they used to mock for decades. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

At the beginning of March, right after the full-scale invasion, Russian information troops targeted regional centers of Ukraine by creating dedicated Telegram channels for each township or community. Although each one posed as a source of local news, those channels were in fact used to disseminate Russian narratives and bolster support for the occupiers. The administrators also used them to imitate such support from the locals.Читати українською

Women at the central bazaar in Novi Sanzhary do not want to deal with the press: “Your journalists have defamed us all! First they frightened us till we shat, now they wonder why we are outraged”. Seeing the press ID, the women shout and chase me away. Having skipped work, on February 20 they were at the epicenter of events, in the crowd surrounded by hundreds of National Guard soldiers and police.