We’re winning, say Russia’s fake news manufacturers

The Kremlin is stepping up disinformation campaigns aimed at its enemies in Ukraine, Moldova and the Western democracies. It’s a huge, global campaign.

Did you see the German woman complaining on social media that her country’s industry is suffering and needs cheaper energy? Or the American woman of the same age arguing that Israel and Ukraine are wasting US taxpayer’s money?

Both were crafted in Russia, according to a huge trove of documents leaked to Western media in September, and published by the VSquare investigative site among others. They were just two of 33.9 million social media comments fabricated by the Social Design Agency (SDA), a Kremlin disinformation subcontractor, in the first third of 2024 alone.

If anyone thought wartime Russia might lose focus in its truth-twisting campaigns against Ukraine and the liberal democratic states, think again. Putin and his aides still see disinformation as a key element of the colonial endeavor against Ukraine and the embitterment and fractiousness of Western voters.

Faced with international sanctions, military setbacks, significant losses, and growing isolation, Russia has increasingly ramped up its disinformation operations, political subversion, and the manipulation of public opinion in the West — echoing the KGB’s tactics of psychological warfare and subversion.

It’s cheap and it works. “Public opinion in the project’s target countries is gradually moving towards reducing or completely stopping support for Ukraine,” a Russian disinformation executive wrote in one of the leaked emails. The comment may be self-serving (as with any employee eager to highlight their metrics and perhaps win an end of year bonus) but it contains some truth.