The most prominent comment on the Spanish news programs broadcast on the Russian television RT on Wednesday was, “What’s going on, can only the US, which imposes sanctions, use weapons?” said. The commented news was about the warnings of the US leader Joe Biden about the “mistake” that Russia would make if it used a nuclear bomb.
“The one who warns is not a traitor. Breaking news: they claim on Russian television Ukraine has a nuclear bomb It will explode in Mikolayv and blame Russia”, he also made a spontaneous statement. Telegram anti-vaccine channel Doctors and Citizens for Truth.
Since the invasion of Ukraine began, a shower of propaganda and destabilizing messages has been pouring down on European societies; and in Spain it has a quantitative density: 42,875 messages received disinformation organized in Russian El Periódico de Catalunya from the Prensa Ibérica group confirms that sources from the intelligence services have flooded this country’s social networks in the last six months.
This thin rain is only partially explained, as the eyes of the civilian information services and the Army do not digitize – although they analyze – eavesdropping on Facebook or phone messaging chains. Focusing on Twitter alone, there are 7,434 war-related posts. Russian official platforms or publishers.
They are the ones with the most visible hand writing them. Defense Intelligence departments identify four groups of platforms for broadcasting Russian disinformation. These platforms underline the arguments around the Kremlin in Spain. 20 narratives.
There are those who not only justify the attack on Ukraine, but also legitimize the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelensky, The Ukrainian army created by the Nazis, the NATO threatening Russia, the helpless Biden, most EU as tyranny, Democracy as weak and unjust and the governments of Europe as the plutocracy. Messages also flow from narratives that erode trust. Safety of Russian residents in SpainOn military aid from the West or the impossibility of a nuclear war.
four episodes
“In war, misinformation is part of the gun, and Russia is manual. They use the freedom of expression protected in democratic states to spread,” explains a military intelligence expert.
The interviewed experts perceive the disinformation bombardment, which is organized in four groups or divisions, as an army. The first, already mentioned, are those created by government agencies or also public employees who have accounts as assets on social networks.
Among them, the issuer Russian EmbassyConsulates in Madrid and Barcelona, trade missions and honorary consulates in Galicia, Alicante, Andalusia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands.
The second part is Kremlin-funded platforms, but not integrated into the government hierarchy. The series ranges from Spanish-language RT television to Russian homes in various Spanish-speaking countries, as well as semi-public media reporters and delegations for university collaboration.
Intelligence services counted this section 5,480 messages social networks refer to the war in Ukraine in the last six months. in total 45 issuers.
The third propaganda firing battery is technically callers. “proxy resources”. These are unofficial agents or organizations that differ from the Russian government or media apparatus, but are used by them and operate not only in social networks, but also in telephone messaging chains, whatsapp, Telegram and Russian Vk. or above all, face meetings. Experts tell 49 platforms across Spainamong them friendship societies or “friendly voices”, Russian-speaking Spanish groups, Russian language teachers and students, and cultural groups associated with events held at the “Casa de Rusia” in Madrid before the war.
The fourth section is the section considered to be created by “influence agents” in State intelligence. about 58 activists and commentators on social networks. In the last six months, they’ve only posted on Twitter 29,961 tweets supporting Russian theses or, according to the sources consulted, distorted news about the war in Ukraine. “Some are unaware of its use,” they explain.
It’s like there’s censorship
Among the messages of large consumption in this stream, vVideos of Putin’s interventions To criticize the rules of the international order established by the West. Broadcasting alone will form part of traditional propaganda; but simulated noise, hum and A robotic voice that translates into Spanish subconsciously, it gives the idea that the message is freed from the censorship imposed in this country.
In other cases identified by experts, clearly false news is being published. This task is left to proxy sources, “because provides reasonable deniability capability who is organizing the disinformation,” explains an expert in Army Intelligence. The capacity for reasonable deniability is the capacity for the real organizer to avoid any false accusations: “It wasn’t me who said that”.
In other disinformation streams, it is less subtly triggered and the goal is to unite by speech or fear of the Russian colony. More than 120,000 have been installed in Spain, especially on the Costa Blanca. In these environments, “anyone who socially disagrees with these messages, branded as a traitor”describes one of the referenced sources. According to these sources, some of the 27 Russian diplomats expelled by the government last April coordinated disinformation campaigns.