“We call on everyone who supports the actions of our president and the Russian army to join in the creation and distribution of realistic content!”

This call to arms by a Russian website seems to be successfully recruiting ordinary Russians – 28,000 of them according to Sky News research – to take part in the information war.

This is just one example of how some of the Russian public is playing their part in the battle to control the narrative around the Ukrainian conflict. Other examples include the recruitment of a hacker “cyber army” and the establishment of a seemingly grassroots organization to monitor Ukrainian war crimes.

In their hearts they all have the same goal-to justify Russia’s actions and to counter the West’s claims of Russia’s atrocities.

‘Defending the truth’

The website mentioned above called Zanami Pravda-which translates to “defending the truth”-asks people to upload pro-Russian content to be shared online to “contribute to Russia’s success”.

According to website numbers, the 28,000 people who uploaded content contributed more than 100,000 photos and videos to the site, numbers that rose rapidly in the past week.

Those who share the “best patriotic content” on the site are entered into competitions to win music and TV subscription services. The latest winners were announced at an office of the All Russia People’s Front, a political coalition led by Vladimir Putin.

The uploaded content includes videos and photos to be shared by so-called “antifakes” aimed at debunking Western media narratives. These include the claim that the Bucha massacre, where the bodies of civilians were found on the street after Russian forces occupied the townwas staged by Ukrainian forces.

Tracking war crimes

Another seemingly innate effort to fight this communication emerged under the banner of the ‘Tribunal’ project, the name of which calls for reference to the Nuremberg trials, where senior Nazis faced justice after the Second World War.

The group has documented at least one potential war crime in Ukraine – an instance in which a Ukrainian soldier appeared to shoot a Russian prisoner of war. They also discovered the names of three Ukrainian soldiers believed to be involved in this incident and posted their details online.

However, justice, as far as this project is concerned, seems to be focused only on the Ukrainian forces, whom they widely accuse of criminal acts with little evidence.

The project produced a deck of shiny “most -wanted” cards – similar to what the U.S. Department of Defense did during the 2003 invasion of Iraq – to highlight Ukrainian figures they believe were responsible for war crimes.

The photo below shows President Volodymry Zelenskyy and former president Petro Poroshenko as two of the aces in the pack.

The links promoted online by the Tribunal project also show other ways to encourage people to support Russia’s efforts. One points people in the direction of a group of hackers looking for people in a “cyber army” of Russia.

The cyber group is not only looking to recruit hackers, but also graphic designers and search engine optimization specialists to help distribute their material.

Why are they doing this?

Dissemination of information that does not dispute Western reporting serves to create doubt in the minds of readers and viewers as to what they should believe.

But it is not only the content of the information shared, but also the methods of reporting, that is evolving in this war.

The use of open -source information in forensic investigations – using satellite imagery, geo -location, and close -up video analysis to reveal what is happening – has become prominent in the scope of the war.

But a popular pro-Russian Telegram channel, a social media site, is now using these techniques to claim to include suspicion in the Bucha massacre.

Although the statements on this channel refer to the style of a forensic investigation, they are often not supported by evidence.

The image below is an example of where the channel posts claim a cyclist captured by drone footage killed by Russian forces is working for Ukrainian forces.

CNN confirmed that the victim was Iryna Filkina, who was cycling home from a shopping center that tried to evacuate the town that day.

Professor Charlie Beckett, director of the LSE media think tank Polis, thinks the spread of this material is a deliberate ploy to undermine reporting confidence: “We tend to assume that our investigation and the use of forensic methods is to expose the things that people want to cover.

“We thought these internet tools would help democratize, but they were also used by authoritarian actors. Honestly, it was a trolling of Western journalists.”

This tactic is not just confined to a small corner of the internet. Sa an interview with Sky News last week, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, questioned satellite imagery used to assess that Russia was responsible for the Bucha killings, in the same way that pro-Russian telegram channels have.

Who won the information war?

Understanding whether these efforts were successful in convincing the public can be difficult but new research seems to show substantial public support for Russia for the war.

Dr Philipp Chapkovski and Professor Max Schaub used a novel survey design to assess how many people in Russia give an honest opinion about the war. It is assumed that some may fear retaliation from the state if they do not approve of military action.

They found that approximately 15% of people did not want to disclose their dissatisfaction with the war when asked directly. Despite this, however, the poll still showed that most people in Russia – 53% – supported the aggression.

Professor Beckett thinks that this local focus was the real goal of the information war in Russia:

“The Russians are not looking to convert British voters to Putinists … Making some smart points online will probably only serve their audience. It won’t convince anyone.”

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Ang Data and Forensics The team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyze and visualize data to tell data-based stories. We combine traditional reporting practices with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better enlighten the world while also showing how our journalism is done.

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