France uncovers a Russian propaganda network that broadcast disinformation about the war in Ukraine to more than 200 information resources
Kyiv • UNN
France has uncovered a Russian propaganda network that has been broadcasting pro-Russian disinformation to more than 200 media outlets to undermine Western support for Ukraine.
A structured and coordinated network of disinformation aimed at the West and at counteracting aid to Ukraine has been uncovered in France. Le Figaro writes about this with reference to law enforcement data, UNN reports.
Details
According to the publication, the propagandists had everything ready for a new disinformation campaign.
On Monday, the Foreign Ministry, the Armed Forces Ministry, and Viginum, the agency responsible for monitoring foreign digital interference, presented the findings of a months-long investigation into a network of "information portals" targeting Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, as well as France, Germany, and Poland.
The network, ironically dubbed "Portal Kombat" by analysts, broadcast pro-Russian content that was "manifestly inaccurate or misleading" with the aim of "polarizing" public debate and "weakening" Western support for Ukraine, Viginum explained.
It is noted that a Russian actor was behind this information campaign. His name has not yet been named. However, experts close to the topic noted that the campaign was managed directly from the Russian presidential administration in Moscow.
It is also known that Portal Kombat is connected to 193 "information portals" formed around "three digital ecosystems" . Viginum found out that one of them unites sites called "pravda" available in France, Germany, Poland, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The sites containing the domain name "Pravda" were launched in June 2023 to relay Russian or pro-Russian social media accounts, Russian press agencies, or institutional sites. All of them repeated the Russian narrative of a "special military operation" in Ukraine and denied the war.
Another, older ecosystem of sites had "news.ru" in its domain name. These portals were "focused on the Russian-speaking audience in Ukraine." It is noted that these sites were created in successive waves from April 3 to December 17, 2022. They are available with names in 41 Ukrainian cities under Russian occupation. In particular, their readers are residents of present-day Donetsk and Luhansk.
And the last, third ecosystem , Kombat Portal , was based on old sites created in 2013.
"Russia has mobilized significant resources" to build its network, says an expert on the subject. However, in Europe, this operation has not had time to have an effect.
Despite the system developed, the consequences in France remained moderate.
According to French law enforcement officials from the VIGINUM unit for countering foreign influence, the audience on the first type platform "pravda" is insignificant : 10,700 visits in November for the French site, 17,600 for the Polish site, 34,400 for the German site, 36,700 for the English site, and 55,000 for the Spanish version.
The French cyberpolice noted that they detected this network in time, while it was in a semi-passive state, because such a mechanism can be activated very easily and quickly, and then it would have a negative impact on the media space.
"This is an inactive device that can be activated in a short time ," a military source assures. In tactical terms, we would speak of a preposition waiting to happen. The information war is just beginning. Russia is testing its tools. Westerners want to demonstrate to their competitors that they know how to identify threats.
The journalists also noted that the Russian network "Portal Kombat" did not produce its own content, but retransmitted other "sources" , including in an automated way, to be able to increase its audience or influence. They targeted a specific audience, in particular, conspiracy circles.
To make their operation less noticeable, the Russians mixed manipulative content with non-politicized or even harmless streams, such as the "news.ru" network .
However, the French authorities were concerned about the publications of the pravda-fr website in the summer of 2023. They published materials on various crises taking place in countries such as Niger and Gabon, and denigrated France's presence in the Sahel." The same site was listed "as the source of a Wikipedia article on the situation in the Red Sea" . In this way, French cyber defenders determined that Russia was broadcasting messages to quietly undermine trust in some or raise doubts in others.
By revealing the existence of the "Kombat portal" network , the French authorities hope to raise public awareness of disinformation and increase the resilience of opinions. Since the sites are hosted in other foreign jurisdictions, they cannot be shut down. But they urge people to be careful about the information product they consume.
