The EU has imposed sanctions on Russian propaganda outlets, such as Russia Today and Sputnik News. But the Kremlin-directed official channels are just the tip of the iceberg.
There is a large ecosystem of pro-Kremlin and alt-right disinformation websites operating in Central and Eastern Europe.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as we found out, NewsFront has been playing a significant role in spreading anti-Ukrainian narratives in some Visegrad countries – especially in Slovakia. A complex redistribution scheme allows Kremlin propaganda to avoid bans and reach audiences in the region.
Russian propaganda tries to frighten Poles with “Ukrainization” of their country. That catchphrase is being used and promoted by MP Grzegorz Braun and far-right influencers. Similar narrative emerged simultaneously in other Eastern European countries.
Julia Dauksza
Anna Gielewska
Since the war started, the anti-vaxxer section has been playing in the Kremlin orchestra, lead by covid denialists and Confederation party members, with Grzegorz Braun at the forefront. Who is behind the anti-vaxxers’ network in Polish social media?
Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic are once again showing disregard for European solidarity, negotiating deals for Eastern vaccines, even at the price of sparking government crises.
Péter Krekó, political analyst at Political Capital, a Hungarian think tank, has been the target of a frenzied attack by media allied to Viktor Orbán’s government. He told us about the sound a smear campaign makes on one’s phone and the best way to sanely live through a character assassination.
We reveal a disinformation effort undertaken behind-the-scenes in an area where Poland’s PR and business sector meet.
With almost five hundred media outlets owned by a single pro-government foundation and hundreds of millions of euros of state advertising transferred annually to fund it, Hungary’s right-wing government has built Europe’s largest propaganda machine since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Warsaw follows in Budapest’s footsteps with a growing stream of taxpayers’ money funnelled […]
Attila Bátorfy
VSquare
Konrad Szczygieł
