From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Schemes
A trove of leaked records from a Russian disinformation campaign reveals how Moscow sought to discredit Ukraine and Western governments that support it while also trying to boost support for far-right political parties in the European Union.
The documents obtained by a consortium of European media outlets and shared with Schemes, the investigative unit of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, highlight the internal operations of the Social Design Agency, a Moscow-based company that the United States says has led the propaganda campaign at the Kremlin’s behest.
The campaign included a diverse mix of memes, falsified videos and government documents, and a network of websites impersonating legitimate news outlets across Europe to disseminate fake stories aimed at undermining Western support for Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The records state that one meme denigrating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that was shared on X by its billionaire owner, Elon Musk, and garnered 86,000 reshares was a creation of the Social Design Agency.
Voice of Ukraine 