The international prisoner exchange between Russia and the West on August 1 was an important event for both sides. Russia turned the exchange into a huge show emphasizing its power and influence. The Kremlin's propaganda machine created a picture of President Putin's determination and commitment to his citizens and presented the returned Russians as heroes. At the same time, the West received alleged "enemies of Russia" who were, in fact, journalists, human rights defenders, and political activists.Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

On 26 July, the Summer Olympics started in France. Russia and Belarus were banned from participating because of their aggression against Ukraine. Moscow, demonstratively offended by the organizers, refused to broadcast the Olympics. However, even though propagandists urged their audience to ignore the Olympics, they covered it in detail.The central message of the propaganda is that pseudo-values are being cultivated in Paris. And the main narratives spread by disinformers are the collapse of transport and food, racism, the terrible crime situation, and the dirty water in the Seine, where "feces float." The performance at the opening of the Games was also labeled: "The freedom of the organizers of the event has turned into permissiveness and demonism."Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative sites that specifically spread Russian disinformation.

In late May, Tiktok announced that in the first months of 2024, it had disrupted 15 influence operations on the platform and deleted 3,001 related accounts. We were able to find more than 2,000 accounts that were created as part of a single Russian information operation revolving around the hashtag #it'snotmyukraine and aimed at discrediting the mobilization in Ukraine and the actions of the Recruiting office.Читати українською

Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, located west of Bakhmut, has been under shelling since the beginning of the war. However, the Russians began an active assault on the town in April 2024, planning to take it by the ritualistic date of 9 May. The battle for the city is still ongoing.Читати українською

On 21 July, US President Joe Biden announced his decision not to run in the next presidential election. This event became the basis for the spread of conspiracy theories about the Deep State in the United States, which, according to Russian propaganda, allegedly forces Biden to withdraw from the political arena in order to promote its candidate, Kamala Harris. Harris is presented as a puppet of this shadowy structure, and Donald Trump as a fighter against it. All this echoes Trump's own rhetoric.Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative sites that specifically spread Russian disinformation.

In June alone, the video with the hashtag #Recruiting office received 470 million views in Ukrainian TikTok (3 billion all-time). At the same time, 13 thousand posts with this hashtag were published within a month (62 thousand all-time). This is the first most popular hashtag in the News and Entertainment category. It is increasingly being used on the TikTokers pages, which seem to have nothing to do with the topic of the Recruiting office and mobilization. That's because this topic gets many more views.We decided to look at how and whom TikTok encourages to make videos about Recruiting office. To do this, we uploaded the latest posts by TikTokers whose videos appeared in the search results using the hashtag #Recruiting office. Along with the reach, we analyzed how many Russians are following this topic.Читати українською

In February 2024, a video went viral on social media in which British paramedic Peter Fouché addressed the governments of Western countries and said, barely holding back tears, "I am ashamed to be a Westerner." Long months of aid blockage in the US Congress, coupled with what Peter deemed insufficient support from other countries, led to the British volunteer's pain and frustration. A few months later, in June 2024, Peter Fouché died.Читати українською

Car rallies and literary festivals in occupied cities, excursions, and photo shoots on the ruins — all this is part of the strategy that Russia is implementing in the occupied territory of Ukraine. The strategy is not new: those who went to report from Grozny for the Russian media in the 2000s are now retelling Russian myths about the "destruction of Mariupol by the Nazis."Читати українською

Over the past week, Russian media have devoted considerable attention to Biden's health and attempts to discredit him, as well as the assassination attempt on Trump, which they see as "evidence of internal tensions in the US" and a "harbinger of civil war".At the same time, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Moscow is presented as a sign of the failure of Western policies to isolate Russia and as confirmation of its growing influence on the international stage.Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative sites that specifically spread Russian disinformation.

On his YouTube channel, Timur can sometimes even criticise the local or Russian authorities, but in a kind way. This is similar to how a resident of a European colony who was educated in a colonial school might lament that "white masters" should visit their colony more often to restore order. We have investigated how Russian propaganda uses bloggers, both local and foreign, to absolve themselves of responsibility for the destruction of Mariupol and the killed citizens.Читати українською