Reporters detailed how Moscow is infiltrating Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and Central Asia through a series of independent news websites, and how Russian state-owned media created secret companies in order to finance websites in the Baltic countries.

But that blockbuster was just another example of the large-scale information war that Russia is leading in the region. As the co-founder of StopFake, the fact-checking website based in Ukraine, I’ve had a front row seat to the massive disinformation campaign Moscow has been spreading through media, cinema, literature, scientific work and public organizations, as well as through political, economic and cultural agents of influence.

Along with methods used for years for Soviet propaganda, Russia’s latest information weapons — so-called troll factories — were brought to the world’s attention when they were linked to President Donald Trump’s election and the UK’s Brexit campaign. But Ukraine has been struggling against Russian propaganda and fake news for years, long before “troll factories” and “fake news” were common terminology in the Western world.  

Credit by - GIJN

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