Last week, the attention of Russia media was largely focused on Ukraine's counteroffensive. Their main goal was persuading Russians that Ukraine’s operation was a flash in the pan. However, the breaking news at end of the week made the propagandists change their tune. The chief of Wagner PMC attempted a military coup so the Kremlin’s information spin doctors focused their efforts on threatening the conspirators and rallying Russians around Putin. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

The blowing-up of the Kakhovska HPP by Russian forces left the Russian media scrambling for versions which could exonerate Russia with the main narrarative “It was Ukraine, not us!!”. Russian propaganda came up with a flurry of explanations why Ukraine had blown up the HPP denying Russia’s involvement. Russian disinformation media are finally able to report on Ukraine’s actual counteroffensive. Now that the operation is underway, the propagandists have been reporting on Ukraine's colossal losses and the power of Russian weapons.

As the wave of Russian disinformation about the blowing up of the Kakhovska HPP is rising, our analysts are already tracking it for our next week’s report.Meanwhile, this media monitoring report is focused on how Russian propagandists explain the persistence of Ukraine’s defenders to their Russian audiences. Admitting that Ukrainians are forced to fight off the invaders is out of question.

Last week, Russian media published excited reports on Russia's success in the war. The propagandists continued to argue that, unlike Western missiles, Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were absolutely impervious to being intercepted. Russian media scared their audiences with stories about a radioactive cloud drifting towards Western Europe from Ukraine. The fake was traced to the Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev who has a history of coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories and nonsense. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

The recipe for success is very simple. TEXTY took a closer look at how the international network of Russian propaganda bots works on Facebook, and our journey started in Cambodia.This is where the administrators managing one of the Russian propagandist public pages have been registered. It didn’t take us too long to find the group itself – its name appeared in the Facebook recommendations after we viewed several other pages promoting Russian propaganda. Translated by Tetiana Sykes Читати українською

Last week, the founder of Wagner PMC Yevheniy Pryhozhyn made a surprise move by threatening to pull back his forces from Bakhmut. The disinformation media scrambled to shift the focus onto Ramzan Kadyrov who had promised that his Chechen fighters would replace the Wagnerites and help to hold the city. The Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev once again claimed that the West is plotting to destroy Russia with the help of none other than gender diversity.Russian propagandists also claimed about the staging of a “color revolution” in Hungary to overthrow the “independent” Viktor Orbán.This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

The study offered a comprehensive insight into the people and organizations that support Russia and its policy in various forms in 19 countries of Europe.

Russian media are convinced that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is going to flop. They reported that Russia would capture the entire city of Bakhmut within days. The propagandists blasted the Poles for Russophobia and lack of diplomatic etiquette and threatened with decisive response.Russian media also claimed “nearly complete Polonization” of Ukrainians and even came up with a fake story on the association of churches in Ukraine led by the Vatican-financed Uniates.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 end of October 2022, we published a data project about the Russian "Telegram occupation", in which we investigated 120 Telegram channels that were set up by the Russians under the guise of Ukrainian local news channels to prepare for and justify the Russian occupation of Ukrainian territories. However, things didn’t turn out as planned, and by the end of September 2022, almost half of these news channels stopped working. As we learnt later on, not forever. Some Telegram channels still got a chance for a second life, although again, not for long. More details about Russian activity in Telegram and what Soledar offensive has got to do with it – in the article below.

Russian media keep saying that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is doomed. Last week, the propagandists claimed that Russian army excels at defensive warfare. The disinformation media tried to exonerate Wagner PMC after the testimony of former mercenaries sharing grim details of murders of Ukrainian civilians and the disobedient Russian servicemen had gone viral.Russian media ran numerous stories about the traitors of Russia who discredit the armed forces and praised the snitches who report them to the authorities. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.