Debunked more
                      than 350 sites:           
   spreading       
                      FALSE       
            NARRATIVES

Months before Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, false narratives about Ukraine and its allies, many promoted by the Kremlin’s disinformation apparatus, were already proliferating online.

NewsGuard has debunked more than 100 false narratives related to the Russia-Ukraine war and identified more than 350 sites spreading those myths.

While most myths disavow Russia’s alleged atrocities and other abuses in Ukraine or demonize Ukrainians, NewsGuard has also debunked some pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian myths, ranging from manipulated images of the mythical Ghost of Kyiv to misleading footage of alleged Russian attacks.

To date, NewsGuard’s team has identified and is tracking 374 domains, promoting false claims about the Russian-Ukraine conflict. Of these, 193 English-language websites, 52 French-language websites, 39 German-language websites, 38 Italian-language websites, and a further 52 websites in other languages were identified.

These websites include official Russian state media sources of the kind that some of the digital platforms have temporarily sanctioned since the onset of the Russian invasion. But many websites that are not official propaganda arms of the Russian government and are not being sanctioned by the platforms also promote false claims supporting the government of Vladimir Putin. These sources include anonymous websites, foundations, and research websites with uncertain funding – at least some of which may have undisclosed links to the Russian government.

Source:[16]

Russia employs a multi-layered strategy to introduce, amplify, and spread false and distorted narratives across the world – relying on a mix of official state media sources, anonymous websites and accounts, and other methods to distribute propaganda that advances the Kremlin’s interests and undermines its adversaries.

Independent public service broadcasters do not exist in Russia, and independent media are effectively banned. Such restrictions also make it easier to control narratives abroad on Russia’s war in Ukraine by forcing foreign media based in Russia to self-censor their reporting in response to banned themes and words (Reporters without Borders, 2022). The Russian government has taken direct actions against journalists and citizens. Soon after the outbreak of the war, journalists and citizens were arrested across the country for their reporting or public comments (Committee to Protect Journalists, 2022).

For the past year, Vladimir Putin hasn't just commanded the invasion of Ukraine, he's also led an information war at home and abroad.
In June, I was one of the several international journalists to be formally sanctioned for critical reporting, meaning I can never go back to Russia.

But that's nothing compared to what's happened to independent Russian journalists who were forced to flee their country. Now, most have regrouped here, to the Latvian capital Riga, to try to counter state propaganda that is no longer just extreme, it is verging on insane.

– Eric Campbell,
Australian Reporter of ABC News

Yekaterina Kotrikadze and her husband Tikhon Dzyadko, TV Rain station's editor in-chief, fled Russia to span avoid the arrest. TV Rain is a private station that has been closed in Moscow but has reopened in Latvia, thanks to a licence to broadcast their programs from Riga. Russia blocked their transmission, but they evade censorship by putting content on YouTube.

After the relaunch, we are having approximately 22 million unique viewers monthly and 65% of those 22 million viewers are from Russia. It is very important, even though we are here in Latvia, we are outside of Russia, the main part of the audience is inside.
– Yekaterina Kotrikadze

We have allowed in Latvia work of Russian journalists to spread free information and I think it's the interest of Europe. I think It is political support because Latvia is supporting Ukraine from the beginning of the war. Also

also for me, as head of the state, is also a personal issue too. Because we are taking democracy seriously and therefore, we should support a country which is attacked by an autocratic regime, which is based on imperialistic ideology.
                                 – Egils Levits,                                 Latvian president

Kirill Martynov, editor of independent Russian Newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, claims:

We had, like, 85 journalists, all of them and their families were at risk and I decided to go to Europe to find partners, to understand if we can continue to work from here and so what we need to do…We try to help people to stay sane inside Russia because a lot of people, millions of people, think ‘maybe I'm crazy’. ‘If everyone talks that war is great, maybe something is wrong with me’.

And we need to provide them with real stories about the war and the consequences and crisis inside of Russia, to help them just to survive in this situation. And after that, we try to rebuild public opinion in Russia. Propaganda

can' tdeliver its information and its world view to any single Russian citizen and we fight for a huge minority of Russians. I think it's like, 30 million of people.

In December a presenter in Georgia was discussing the appalling conditions for mobilized Russian troops and Tv Rain was accused to support Russian Soldiers on the front. The presenter was fired and his comments were taken offline. It didn't matter. Five days later Latvia canceled its broadcast license. Latvia's journalists' union condemned the decision but the government refused to budge.

Russian state television, of course, was gloating: Vladimir Solovyov, Russian TV presenter and propagandist claimed:

The west has completely drowned in his hypocrisy and lies. There isn't a hint of free speech or respect for human rights there. That's hit Russian liberal

supporters who were ready to betray their own Motherland to get on the West's good side. And now they're getting a slap in the face. Like that foreign agent TV Rain.

Vladimir Solovyov's TV program evening runs five nights a week on Russia's top-rating channel. His regular co-propagandist is Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of Russia's international network Russia Today. She supports complete state control of INFORMATION.

Tv Rain is continuing to send content on YouTube but can no longer broadcast to Russians inside Latvia. Over the coming months, it plans to relocate again. The Dutch government has stepped in and granted a broadcast license.

Source:[15]

Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media) enforces the state’s opposition to information to which it objects. Two days after the 2022 invasion, Roskomnadzor announced that media organisations could only publish information from official government media outlets on the war. It restricted access to Google News, accusing it of providing access to false information about Russia’s war against Ukraine, based on a decision taken at the request of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office (Reporters without Borders, 2022). It also threatened to fine Google over “illegal” YouTube videos containing information about Russia’s “special military operation” (Roth, 2022).

In addition to Roskomnadzor’s censorship, one of Russia’s most effective means of controlling narratives around the war has been via its law on spreading fake news about Russia’s armed forces, adopted by the State Duma on 4 March 2022. The law is ambiguous, covering the
public dissemination of deliberately false
information about the use of the Armed
Forces of the Russian Federation
                                                                  ,without specifying what qualifies as false information. The law also provides legal means to apply fines of up to 500 000 roubles (EUR 6 200) or to imprison citizens for up to fifteen years for violations (TASS, 2022; Bloomberg, 2022). The government is simultaneously limiting access to social media platforms within Russia. Foreign-based companies are much harder to control than local equivalents (such as VKontakte or Odnoklassiki), which are popular among the population and where the means of applying pressure by the Russian state are more numerous.

Almost a month into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia’s general prosecutor declared Meta an extremist organization, leading to the banning of Facebook and Instagram in Russia. This action followed the government’s restriction of Twitter earlier in March 2022 (Euronews, 2022). Immediately prior to the ban, demand for VPNs, which encrypt data and obscure where a user is located, rose more than 2000% compared to the daily average the month prior, suggesting the continued demand for these platforms in Russia (Euronews, 2022).

A Levada Centre poll from July 2022 found that while television is still the main news source for 63% of the population, that share has been declining steadily; conversely, reliance on social media as a source of news has increased to 39% of respondents.

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