Russian funds anti-Ukraine disinformation campaign in Latin America

Ukrainska Pravda
·2 min read
4

Russia is funding a long-running, well-paid disinformation campaign against Ukraine in Latin America.

Source: US Department of State, reported by European Pravda

Details: The statement says that the Kremlin's ultimate goal is to launder its propaganda and disinformation through local media in a way that will be perceived by Latin American audiences as organic in order to undermine support for Ukraine and spread anti-American and anti-NATO sentiment.

The US Department of State noted that the Russian Federation plans to use developed media contacts in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, among other Latin American countries, to conduct a campaign of information manipulation.

As an example, the Department of State pointed out that firms such as the Social Design Agency, the Institute for Internet Development and Struktura coordinated the development of a campaign of information manipulation targeting Latin America, which aims to advance Russia's strategic interests in the region through overt and covert cooperation with local media and influencers to spread disinformation and propaganda.

Quote: "These are ‘influence-for-hire’ firms with deep technical capability, experience in exploiting open information environments, and a history of proliferating disinformation and propaganda to further Russia’s foreign influence objectives."

Details: The Department of State pointed out that Moscow spreads original stories or amplifies existing popular or divisive discourse using a network of state-owned media outlets, proxies, and social media influencers, and then intensifies this content to further penetrate the Western information environment.

Quote: "The operations themes primarily focus on attempting to persuade Latin American audiences that Russia’s war against Ukraine is just and that they can unite with Russia to defeat neocolonialism."

Background:

  • Earlier, the United States released a US intelligence report sent to more than 100 countries, which states that Moscow is using spies, social media and Russian state-owned media to undermine public confidence in the integrity of democratic elections around the world.

  • A senior US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity before the report's publication, said that Russia is likely to continue to conduct influence operations after its success in spreading disinformation about the 2020 presidential election and the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • He added that the report was handed over to more than 100 US embassies in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa for distribution to host governments. In addition, Washington held a briefing for the governments of these countries and shared its assessment of Russia's actions.

  • Last year, the US Department of State, with reference to US intelligence, said that Russia had secretly spent more than US$300 million since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries.

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