Russia is intensifying its information war against Ukraine just as its military losses soar and Ukrainian forces brazenly occupy Russian territories .
Western governments ignore these psychological operations, aimed at American and European audiences, at their peril. Their impact can weaken political, military and economic support for Kyiv just at a time when the war appears to be turning against Moscow.
Russia uses various methods to affect public opinion in the West. Financial contributions and media support help political parties and movements that favor Moscow. Propaganda and disinformation are aimed at leftists and rightists, populists and progressives, and ethnic majorities and minorities to distort reality and exacerbate divisions in Western societies.
Traditional media and social networks are involved through fake accounts, bots and trolls. Cyber hacking also interferes with Western elections, leaks confidential information and attacks critical infrastructure in targeted states.
Russian operatives have developed public organizations, NGOs and even churches to spread falsehoods that Moscow’s war against Ukraine was a necessary response to NATO provocations. In June 2023, French authorities discovered a large-scale disinformation campaign that included fake websites that simulated French media and government sites. The goal was to disseminate fake news directed against Ukraine.
In March 2024, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of involvement in the terrorist attack in the Krocus City Hall in Moscow. Anti-Ukrainian messages are also promoted in Russian outlets by favorably disposed Russian experts from universities, think tanks and the media. Pro-Russian Telegram channels and the Sputnik News Agency also create propaganda channels on platforms such as TikTok and YouTube.
Even Ukraine’s media have been infiltrated by pro-Moscow operatives. Before Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, several branches of Russian media included outlets in Ukraine, such as RIA Novosti , Izvestia and Komsomolskaya Pravda. Some were closed and criminal proceedings were initiated against others, while a few continued their anti-Ukrainian disinformation work and suspected Russian subversion.
Several outlets formally cut their links with Russia, such as RBC-Ukraine , one of the country’s largest and most influential news agencies, but questions remain over its ownership and connections. Recent investigations have revealed that the ultimate owner of RBC-Ukraine is itself an anonymously owned offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, Thornley Investment LTD, which in the past might have been affiliated with a sister media outlet, RBC-Russia .
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the editorial team of RBC-Ukraine tried to pre-empt accusations about its Kremlin connections by publishing articles denouncing well-known personalities and companies in Ukraine as insufficiently patriotic and having secret ties with Moscow. But this looks like camouflage for its own opaque ownership structure.
Moscow-linked outlets are involved in purveying fake stories to discredit the Ukrainian government. One recent example that circulated widely in the West claimed that Olena Zelenska, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, purchased a $4.4 million Bugatti sports car with American taxpayer dollars. This fake report, which first appeared on an Instagram post, was fully debunked by the car manufacturer, who filed a criminal complaint for forgery and defamation.
The goal of such disinformation was to undercut U.S. support in arming Ukraine by painting the government in Kyiv as irredeemably corrupt. Although official corruption remains a persistent problem in some of Ukraine’s institutions, the current authorities are taking a tougher approach than all previous administrations and have sought American assistance to fight corruption.
As Ukraine regains the initiative in the war with increasing volumes of Western weapons, domestically produced missiles and drones, and fresh recruits, Kremlin propaganda is ramping up its information offensive. The aim is to promote disarray among Western leaders, limit assistance to Ukraine and push Kyiv toward a ceasefire in which it surrenders its occupied territories and abandons the areas it has seized inside Russia.
Amid an existential war against an imperialist aggressor, no part of the Ukrainian media should be permitted to maintain business links with Moscow and spread narratives scripted in the Kremlin.
Janusz Bugajski is a Senior Fellow at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington, D.C. His most recent book is “ Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture .”
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