"From Russia with Love" and the wave of fake news. The Kremlin wants to lower Poland's status and disrupt the West

Ostatnia aktualizacja: 08.04.2020 23:00

- Fake news claiming that Poland did not allow Russia’s “medical” transport aircraft on route to Italy, to fly over Polish airspace, or false information about "spreading" of the COVID virus by American soldiers deployed to Poland, for EXERCISE Defender 20 are disinformation patterns, consistent with the Kremlin's political agenda. An information attack on efforts to increase security and defense capabilities of NATO on its eastern flank or an attempt to reduce Poland's status as a model of integration with the West among countries of the former Warsaw Pact, have been some of the key disinformation goals of the Russian Federation for many years - comments Olgierd Syczewski, an analyst of the American think tank CEPA (Center for European Policy Analysis.

KremlFoto: pixabay.com /Lynn Greyling

It is worth paying particular attention to the "From Russia with Love" campaign - it is clear that Italy has become a place of a new kind of struggle for influence between Moscow and Beijing – says Olgierd Syczewski, an analyst at the American think tank CEPA (Center for European Policy Analysis)
Eerily strange is the presence of the Russian military during relief operation in Italy, a NATO country - the expert notes
It is worth paying particular attention to the previously mentioned "From Russia with Love" campaign - it is clear that Italy has become a place of a new kind of struggle for influence between Moscow and Beijing – CEPA’s analyst points out
It is worth quoting an article that recently appeared in the Italian newspaper "La Stampa", in which government sources say that about 80% of the equipment supplied by Russia is useless - noted CEPA’s analyst

Against the backdrop of dramatic events related to the pandemic in the world, Syczewski underlines the increasing activity of the Russian Federation in the field of disinformation.

The coronavirus fake news pandemic. 'One of the sources of disinformation is the Kremlin, especially in Poland. China is active too'

One of Russia’s senators Alexei Pushkov published a few days ago on Twitter false information that Poland closed airspace for Russian aircraft carrying medical assistance to Italy. In response to this false message, Russian ambassador Sergei Andreyev was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, Sejm Marshal Elżbieta Witek addressed the Russian chairwoman of the Federation Council with an appeal to discipline the senator.

This is just one example of fake news, which, however, often has a common denominator. As experts note, stories like this are supposed to divide the West, targeting their reputations. Disinformation campaigns are aimed at, among others, countries of the former Warsaw Pact. In Poland, a campaign is underway which aims to lift economic sanctions imposed on Moscow.

How is Russia's activity in terms of Poland and the West manifested today? This is the topic of the interview with Olgierd Syczewski, an analyst from the Center for European Policy Analysis, (CEPA) an American Think Tank focused on Central and Eastern Europe.

⚠️Attention: another #FakeNews on the #coronavirus pandemic.

❌Russia did not request entry into Polish airspace.
❌The news of Poland’s alleged refusal is baseless and untrue. pic.twitter.com/8bL6eSBjj8
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) March 24, 2020

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PolskieRadio24.pl: The wave of fake news and pandemic misinformation continues. Recently even more clearly than before, when the origin of some fake news seemed not entirely determined, the Kremlin comes to the fore as one of the sources of the disinformation campaign. However, China is also not out of sight. Does monitoring confirm such conclusions?

Olgierd Syczewski, an analyst at CEPA: We see increasing disinformation campaigns about different issues, but of a common origin. We still need time to analyze and follow specific narratives and their sources thoroughly - we certainly understand the growing activity of the Russian Federation.

Both external and internal goals dictate Russia's actions. First of all, it is part of a long-lasting disinformation campaign aimed at major international institutions, focused on reducing the confidence of Western societies in them. Secondly, it is also an attempt to improve Russia's image, probably aimed at trying to convince the EU Council to lift punishing economic sanctions on the Kremlin. Additionally, the campaign has internal political goals. It is a matter of diverting attention of Russian society from the growing economic problems that may threaten the stability of Putin’s regime.

⚠️Attention - #FakeNews

❌There was no blocked transport of protection masks from Poland to Italy.

🤝🇵🇱 stands in solidarity & supports the Italian 🇮🇹 nation that is dealing with an incredibly difficult situation.

👉We encourage all to be wary about unverified information. pic.twitter.com/jKp7lm1HWD
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) March 22, 2020

What kind of fake news are we currently observing when it comes to the Kremlin?

Russia is actively pushing the vision of the European Union, NATO, as institutions allegedly incapable of dealing with a pandemic, in contrast to the Kremlin.

As part of this campaign, Moscow sent, among others medical and military assistance to Italy with the catchy slogan "From Russia with Love". This action was a brilliant PR game; it was to show that Russia responds to calls for help from Rome - and allegedly, the EU or NATO cannot.

Which, of course, is false.

Both external and internal goals dictate such actions by the Kremlin. First of all, it is part of a long-lasting disinformation campaign aimed at major international institutions, focused on reducing the confidence of Western societies in them. Secondly, it is also an attempt to enhance Russia's image, probably aimed at trying to convince the EU Council to lift punishing economic sanctions on the Kremlin.

Besides, the campaign also has internal political goals. It is a matter of diverting the attention of Russian society from growing economic problems that may threaten the stability of Putin’s regime.

It is worth paying particular attention to the action mentioned above "From Russia with Love" - it is clear that Italy has become a place of a kind of struggle for influence between Moscow and Beijing.

Russian propaganda in Italy backfired spectacularly after Russia’s Defense Ministry threatens an Italian reporter for questioning Moscow’s aid. Italian foreign and defense ministries issue a protest. “We are not Chechnya.” https://t.co/jUNzV4RyFU
— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) April 3, 2020

It’s important to highlight a quote in an article that recently appeared in the Italian newspaper "La Stampa", in which government sources say that about 80% of the equipment supplied by Russia is useless.

A new strange thing is the presence of the Russian army as part of the assistance operation, allowed access, and freedom to move around Italy, where NATO infrastructure and forces are located including more than 12,000 American troops.

What are the Kremlin's goals in spreading misinformation during a pandemic?

In addition to those mentioned earlier, one can also indicate the attempt to expand the Kremlin's influence in Central and Eastern Europe, primarily in the Baltic States and Ukraine. Poland is also the goal of sophisticated campaigns. For example, fake news claiming that Poland did not allow medical transport to Italy to trespass its airspace or information about the alleged "spreading" of the virus by US troops during "Defender 20" exercises are in line with the Kremlin's political agenda.

An information attack on the effort to increase NATO combat capabilities on its eastern flank or an attempt to diminish Poland's reputation as a model of integration with the West among former Warsaw Pact nations, have been the disinformation goals of the Russian Federation for a long time. Another vital context, an event that may trigger another wave of Kremlin disinformation campaign, maybe e.g. Poland's Smolensk/Katyn and/or other important commemorations.

Deputy FM @marcin_przydacz during shipping medical aid to Italy and San Marino:

In times when all nations face the invisible enemy, what we need more than ever before is #solidarity🇵🇱🤝🇮🇹🇸🇲.

Read more➡️ https://t.co/ho98dZkY9I pic.twitter.com/bwNBTrZwlB
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇵🇱 (@PolandMFA) April 7, 2020

How can the Kremlin use Poland's Smolensk/Katyn or other Polish commemoration for misinformation purposes? How should we understand it?

I will not give the Kremlin ready narratives. Nevertheless, I am sure that Polish authorities, in particular the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Polish services are prepared for this.

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Olgierd Syczewski, the Program Coordinator at the Warsaw office of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), dealing with disinformation monitoring. He coordinated CEPA’s project aimed to monitor disinformation in Poland, the Baltic States, and Romania. He participated as well as a speaker and moderator in a number of discussions about the information war and co-organized educational workshops in the field of cybersecurity and the so-called deep fakes.

***

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The coronavirus fake news pandemic. 'One of the sources of disinformation is the Kremlin, especially in Poland. China is active too'

Ostatnia aktualizacja: 26.03.2020 08:00

"Russia is using the coronavirus pandemic to spread disinformation in Poland and other European countries. It seems that from the Kremlin’s perspective the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemics is not only a threat but also an opportunity. We can also see a lot of China's activity, aiming at controlling the narrative about the origin and history of the pandemic,” said Olgierd Syczewski (Warsaw Office of CEPA) in an interview with PolskieRadio24.pl.

A wave of false information about the coronavirus pandemic has flooded Poland and other European countries.

"The amount of inaccurate information on the Internet is terrifying, even for experts who have been involved in the field of disinformation for years", says Olgierd Syczewski (CEPA, Center for European Policy Analysis) to the PolskieRadio24.pl. He points out that disinformation is based on well known social mechanisms. In the case of the coronavirus, this is based on fear, a sense of danger and therefore increased vulnerability to manipulation.

Can we identify "the culprits", the sources of fake news or disinformation campaigns? These are probably different in various cases because there are different motivations and reasons, from ignorance to a desire for profit. But our interlocutor warns that the Kremlin and Beijing are very active in current disinformation operations. "In Europe, especially in, Poland we see very intense disinformation activity on the part of Russia (...). The Kremlin's goals remain the same, only the context changes", he adds.

More in the text of the interview below.

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Agnieszka Kamińska, PolskieRadio24.pl: The coronavirus pandemic caused, as someone put it, the fake news pandemic. We have been observing a lot of it in Poland. You deal with monitoring false information and disinformation tactics as an expert of CEPA (Center for European Policy Analysis). Can you give us some examples of fake news that we most often come across in Poland?

Olgierd Syczewski, expert of CEPA (Center for European Policy Analysis):

In my view "fake news" is a term currently abused - I would prefer to use the concept of disinformation, which is based on commonly known social mechanisms. An unknown disease caused by an "exotic" virus causes a sense of fear. In an atmosphere of danger and uncertainty, people are more easily manipulated by the information environment. As we know, "the sleep of reason produces monsters". We also know that emotions can determine many of our actions.

And so, in Poland one can come across false information about alleged government actions or plans (e.g. a shutdown of Warsaw), about alleged secrets hidden by the Ministry of Health (there were accusations of concealing the real numbers of infected people). There was a viral video presenting a charlatan who claimed to be in possession of medicine that treats COVID-19. Of course, there were more of these narratives. I want to emphasize that the amount of false information on the Internet was terrifying, even for disinformation experts.

We have been unmasking dozens of fake news in Poland these days. And what kind of fake news can we find elsewhere, for example in other countries in Europe, other countries of the world?

This is a topic suitable for a separate conversation. In the extended plan, however, we notice some narrative dominants. We must remember that fake news is only a small element of broader impact campaigns, aimed at destabilizing the information environment and weakening the coherence of international institutions, such as the European Union or NATO. Therefore, specific examples of misinformation were similar to those in Poland. There was fake news that the US and the North-Atlantic Treaty Organization were "creating the virus as a biological weapon"...

We know it came from China.

Likewise, there was fake news that Western elites caused pandemic to introduce tyranny in many countries.

These are all absurd accusations. Can we point to any sources of origin of this fake news? Can we identify them?

Based on the premises of these narratives as well as their obvious political and social goals, we can with high probability indicate Kremlin as one of the sources of the disinformation campaign.

In this context we may as well remind Alexander Dugin's statements (who is a pro-Kremlin and nationalist thinker), promoting the thesis that the pandemic is only accelerating the end of "liberal elites" and political systems close to them.

Attacks on NATO, on the EU or the US are also a permanent element of Russian disinformation campaigns. In short: Kremlin goals remain the same, only the context changes.

We have been observing constant propaganda operations of the Russian Federation for many years and its goals remain unchanged. These objectives are social disintegration, information chaos, reduction of confidence in democratic institutions and international organizations. The pandemic is yet another excuse to launch Kremlin's disinformation channels. For Kremlin, the coronavirus crisis is not only a threat but also an opportunity, as my colleague and an excellent CEPA expert Brian Whitmore has stated recently in his commentary.

Of course, there are other actors manipulating communication and information environment. We see, for example, China's activities that strive to control epidemic stories to their advantage, e.g. through furious censorship of virus-related keywords in Chinese social media. However, in my opinion, in Europe, especially in Poland, most of the disinformation activity comes from Russia.

Whatever are the sources of disinformation - we need to know from which sources you can acquire legitimate information.

In today's world everyone can be a one-person medium and source of information, so we cannot forget about fact-checking, i.e. verifying information. We should base our knowledge on official sources, such as websites of relevant ministries, statements of officials or dedicated websites, dealing with explaining and verifying false information. In this case it is good to check the website of the Ministry of Health, read the messages of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of National Defence. We also have many excellent experts in Poland who disarm false information appearing on the Internet day by day. I would suggest to everyone to find 10 minutes and look both for experts and services dealing with disinformation and add them to their feed/board on Facebook or Twitter.

Each of us could contribute to the fight against fake news.

We can do this in many ways. The #FakeHunter action has just been launched and everyone can join it. In this campaign Internet users will be able to report false or questionable information that needs verification. Opinion leaders can also join this project, and, according to organizers, will be equipped with the knowledge about confirmed sources of data on the coronavirus. This is an exciting and beneficial initiative and it is definitely worth using. However, we don't know yet how effective this will be. There are many other possibilities to fight fake news, of course. This is only one of many possible ways.

The results of this fight depend partly on us and our actions.

The most important thing is not to spread false information on Facebook or Twitter. We should not believe unconditionally in "confidential messages" allegedly from "someone important in government circles" and send it to our friends. In short: we should not share questionable content on our social media. Let us remember that information war is ongoing and each of us can contribute to winning it.

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Olgierd Syczewski, the Program Coordinator at the Warsaw office of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), dealing with disinformation monitoring. He coordinated CEPA’s project aimed to monitor disinformation in Poland, the Baltic States, and Romania. He participated as well as a speaker and moderator in a number of discussions about the information war and co-organized educational workshops in the field of cybersecurity and the so-called deep fakes.

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Coronavirus and Defender Europe 2020. CEPA’s Director in Warsaw: the United States is already planning Defender 2021

Ostatnia aktualizacja: 01.04.2020 18:00

The strategic message of Defender Europe 2020 has not changed, in spite of the fact that it has been scaled down, says COL(ret) Ray Wojcik, former US Army Attaché in Poland, Director, of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Warsaw. Planning for combined Brigade-level maneuvers and gunnery are still being considered, as well as potentially shifting portions of DEF20, into the summer, he added.