{"id":324984,"date":"2024-12-30T11:17:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T09:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=324984"},"modified":"2024-12-30T11:17:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T09:17:18","slug":"russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends","title":{"rendered":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Viktoria Odusanvo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cminions\u201d became more active<\/a> in fields connected to political manipulation and spreading anti-Western narratives all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prepare a summary of this year\u2019s Russian propaganda \u201ctrends\u201d our team created a chosen few examples of Moscow\u2019s information influence on the global arena. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interfering with elections\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year, Europe and the US saw a jam-packed\u201celection season.\u201d Russia used this period to test new, more aggressive hybrid warfare methods in the context of elections, promoting candidates who serve the Kremlin\u2019s policies and thus spread chaotic moods among the people. Russian influence could be traced during the elections in Moldova<\/a> and Georgia<\/a>. During the US elections, polling stations received<\/a> false mining threats sent from Russian domains. The first round of the presidential elections in Romania was annulled due to the investigation<\/a> of fraudulent activities and bot farm usage by a pro-Russian candidate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose is not just to expand Russia\u2019s information influence, but to undermine the trust in modern democratic values and institutions, forcing people to doubt their stability. Kaja Kallas, a new high representative for foreign affairs and security policy at POLITICO\u2019s P28<\/a> highlighted<\/a> that it is crucial to take the threat of Russia interfering with the election process seriously. \u201cDemocracy is based on trust, and if you can\u2019t trust elections anymore then how can you trust the outcome?\u201d, – she stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
Two weeks before the Romanian presidential election voting started, a populist politician Calin Georgescu gained 30,000 new subscribers on TikTok, and his election campaign video saw an increase in views by 300,000 with TikTok overflowing with hashtags related to his candidacy.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Using AI and social media <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year Moscow betted on new technologies and increased its use of AI in social media, bot farms, and general AI usage to upscale their \u201cpropaganda factory\u201d. The Justice Department of the US, along with its partners in Canada and the Netherlands uncovered<\/a> a network of over 900 bot accounts that were used to spread Russian narratives on the X social media (formerly known as Twitter). Another loud example is Calin Georgescu, a Romanian pro-Russian candidate who took part in the first round of the presidential election, whose pre-election campaign on the TikTok social media was supported<\/a> by countless bot farms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video and audio materials created by AI pose<\/a> another threat. Using resources such as these can create an illusion that famous politicians, activists, or influencers support Russia\u2019s politics. For example, during this year\u2019s Olympics, Russia \u201ctook offense\u201d at their athletes being banned from participating and launched a discrediting campaign for the event. Fake videos<\/a> using the image of Tom Cruise, who allegedly talked about the \u201cfall of the Olympics\u201d were a part of this campaign. Kamala Harris also became<\/a> an unfortunate victim in Russian AI-generated videos before the elections. The Kremlin is using these tactics as a means to damage the politician\u2019s reputation and create chaos during the election process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
A still from the deepfake of Vice President Kamala Harris created by Russians. Source: <\/em>Microsoft Threat Analysis Center (MTAC)<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Threatening with new \u201cinterventions\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Kremlin used a strategy of intimidation of its so-called \u201cred lines\u201d. It is used to lower the support Ukraine has in the world and cultivate the fear of \u201cretribution\u201d that Russia might prepare for the countries that provide military and economic aid to Ukraine. Threats linked to the possibility<\/a> of a nuclear strike and the usage of the \u201cwho\u2019s next\u201d narrative, based on trying to intimidate the EU countries which Russia is planning to \u201cteach a lesson\u201d after their fantasised victory in Ukraine were the most popular thus far. Often such threats are addressed to the former USSR countries, which Russia considers its \u201chistorical territories\u201d. In particular, the narrative of the importance of avoiding a war with Russia was a significant part of the pro-Russian Georgian Dream\u2019s (a political party) election campaign, as well as a part of the rhetorics used to discredit the referendum about joining the EU, that was held in Moldova. Using a strategy such as this is especially cynical, given the fact that both Georgia and Moldova have territories that are currently occupied by Russia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/
The protests in Tbilisi started on the 28th of November after the Georgian ruling party announced its intention not to participate in negotiations to join the EU until 2028.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Personalised fakes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Among the \u201cnew inventions\u201d and disinformation, Russia continued to use the old favourite – creating and spreading rumors to discredit certain individuals, companies, and institutions\u2019 reputations. One of the popular \u201cquestions\u201d Russia raised this year was the imaginary foreign aid theft in Ukraine. One example of such rumors is the narrative<\/a> of the Zelensky family’s alleged wealth, who, as per the Kremlin\u2019s propagandists’ lies, use military aid and diplomatic visits to buy luxury transportation means and jewellery. Rumour campaigns such as this are created to cultivate outrage among the citizens of the US and Europe, pushing them to vote for political parties and candidates, which strive to reduce military aid given to Ukraine all together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An example of a personified fake attack. In September 2024 the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ben Cardin communicated with an unidentified person, who impersonated the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba using deepfakes via Zoom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the Kremlin\u2019s \u201cminions\u201d became more active in fields connected to political manipulation and spreading anti-Western narratives all over the world. To prepare a summary of this year\u2019s Russian propaganda \u201ctrends\u201d our […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":324985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[700,699],"tags":[34420,34417,34980,32888,1248],"section":[726],"form":[31943],"yoast_head":"\nRussian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-12-30T09:17:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-12-30T09:17:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-11.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Matt Wickham\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2024-12-30T09:17:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-30T09:17:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-11.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Matt Wickham","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-11.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-11.png","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends","name":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2024-12-30T09:17:14+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T09:17:18+00:00","description":"Viktoria Odusanvo 2024 was a year filled with various events and challenges linked to the increase in the intensity of Russian propaganda. This year the | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/bdb0492436ba6dc8a64eafd9e56c3e9f"},"headline":"Russian Propaganda in 2024: Traditions and New Trends","datePublished":"2024-12-30T09:17:14+00:00","dateModified":"2024-12-30T09:17:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#webpage"},"wordCount":923,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/russian-propaganda-in-2024-traditions-and-new-trends#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/4-11.png","keywords":["artificial intelligence","deepfakes","elections","Moldova","propaganda"],"articleSection":["Information war","Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/bdb0492436ba6dc8a64eafd9e56c3e9f","name":"Matt Wickham"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324984"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324991,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324984\/revisions\/324991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324984"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=324984"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=324984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}