“We call on all those who support the actions of our President and the Russian army to join in creating and disseminating real content!”
This call for weapons from a Russian website seems to be successfully recruiting ordinary Russians – 28,000 of them, according to a Sky News study – to take part in the information war.
This is just one example of how part of the Russian public is playing its part in the battle to control the narrative over the Ukrainian conflict. Other examples include the recruitment of a hacking “cyber army” and the creation of a seemingly mass organization to track Ukrainian war crimes.
Basically, they all have one goal in common – to justify Russia’s actions and to oppose Western claims of Russian atrocities.
Image: Shared images on the Protection of Truth website depicting a child supporting Russian troops.
“Protection of the truth”
The website mentioned above, called Zanami Pravda – which means “protection of the truth” – asks people to upload pro-Russian content to be shared online to “contribute to Russia’s victory”.
According to the website, 28,000 people who uploaded content contributed more than 100,000 images and videos to the site, a number that has grown rapidly over the past week.
Those who share the site’s “best patriotic content” take part in competitions to win music and TV subscription services. The latest winners were announced at the office of the Popular Front of All Russia, a political coalition led by Vladimir Putin.
The uploaded content includes videos and images for sharing so-called “anti-counterfeits”, which aim to debunk the stories of the Western media. This includes allegations that the massacre in Bucha, where the bodies of civilians were found on the street after Russian forces occupied the city, was staged by Ukrainian forces.
Image: The winners of the competition, who have uploaded pro-Russian content, are announced. Photo: Zanami Pravda
War crimes tracking
Another seemingly massive effort in this communication battle came under the banner of the Tribunal project, which cites the Nuremberg Trials, where top Nazis were brought to justice after World War II.
Image: The branding of the Tribunal’s project. The word in red translates as “tribunal” or “trial” and is superimposed on images from the Nuremberg Trials
The group has documented at least one potential war crime in Ukraine – a case in which a Ukrainian soldier appears to have shot a Russian prisoner of war. They also found the names of three Ukrainian soldiers believed to be involved in the incident and published their details online.
But justice to this project seems to focus only on Ukrainian forces, which they widely accuse of criminal activity with little evidence.
The project created a deck of shiny “most wanted” cards – similar to the US Department of Defense in the 2003 Iraq invasion – to highlight Ukrainian figures they hold accountable for war crimes.
The image below shows President Vladimir Zelensky and former President Petro Poroshenko as two of the aces in the package.
The links promoted online by the tribunal’s project also show other ways in which people are encouraged to support Russia’s efforts. One directs people to a hacker group that wants to recruit people into Russia’s “cyber army.”
The cyber group is not only looking to recruit hackers, but also graphic designers and search engine optimization specialists to help disseminate their material.
Why do they do it?
The dissemination of information that challenges Western reports serves to cast doubt on the minds of readers and viewers as to what they should believe.
But not only the content of the information shared, but also the methods of reporting are evolving in this war.
The use of open source information in forensic investigations – the use of satellite imagery, geolocation and close-up video analysis to uncover what was happening – has become important in covering the war.
But a popular pro-Russian channel, Telegram, a social media site, is now using these techniques to make claims that include casting doubt on the Bucha massacre.
Although the allegations in this channel resemble the style of a forensic investigation, they are often not supported by evidence.
The image below is an example in which publications in the channel claim that a cyclist caught on drone, killed by Russian forces, works for the Ukrainian forces.
Image: “Forensic” analysis shared in the Telegram, which calls into question the murder of a civilian cyclist in Bucha
CNN confirmed that the victim was Irina Filkina, who was returning from a shopping center by bicycle after trying to evacuate the city that day.
Professor Charlie Beckett, director of the LSE’s Polis media think tank, said the distribution of this material was a deliberate trick to undermine the report’s credibility:
“We tend to accept that our investigations and the use of forensic methods are to uncover things that people want to be covered up,” he said.
“We thought these tools on the internet would help democratize, but authoritarian actors also used them. Honestly, it’s trolling Western journalists.”
This tactic is not limited to a small corner of the Internet. In an interview with Sky News last week, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov questioned the satellite imagery used to assess Russia’s responsibility for the Bucha killings, much in the same way that pro-Russian telegram channels had.
Who wins the information war?
Understanding whether these efforts have successfully persuaded the public may be difficult, but new research appears to show significant public support in Russia for the war.
Dr. Philip Chapkowski and Professor Max Schaub used a new design of the study to estimate how many people in Russia give honest views on the war. It is believed that some may fear reprisals by the state if they do not approve of hostilities.
They found that about 15% of people do not want to express their dissatisfaction with the war when asked directly. However, the poll still shows that the majority of people in Russia – 53% – support the invasion.
Professor Beckett believes that this internal focus is ultimately the real goal of the information war in Russia:
“The Russians are not trying to turn British voters into Putinists.” Making a few smart points online will probably only serve their audiences. That won’t convince anyone else. “
The Data and Forensics team is a highly qualified unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We collect, analyze and visualize data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite imagery, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we strive to better explain the world while showing how our journalism is done.
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