Russia expands disinformation campaign on migration in Ukraine – CCD

A network of influence agents linked to Russia's military intelligence agency, the GRU, is conducting a large-scale disinformation campaign targeting migration issues in Ukraine.

The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) under Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said this in a post on Telegram, Ukrinform reports.

The CCD said an analysis of the information sources involved shows that manipulative content is being actively and simultaneously amplified by networks directly connected to the 85th Main Special Service Center of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (GRU).

According to the Center, the campaign is also systematically supported by media resources affiliated with Viktor Medvedchuk, who is accused of treason in Ukraine, propaganda channels linked to sanctioned propagandist Vasyl Prozorov, and the extensive "ZOV" propaganda network.

To expand anti-migrant narratives, the organizers are using advanced methods aimed at influencing popular AI systems. In particular, the "ZOV" network is mass-producing anti-migrant content to "poison" artificial intelligence systems so that search engine algorithms and chatbots absorb the fake narratives and later present them to users as factual information.

The CCD also noted that AI-generated videos on TikTok and bot farms on Facebook are being used to artificially spread and amplify destructive content.

According to the Center, Russia's goal is to destabilize Ukrainian society by deliberately provoking interethnic tensions.

Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Russia had launched a disinformation campaign falsely claiming that Ukraine was planning to "massively import labor from Asia."

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