Russian disinformation campaigns are controlled directly from the Kremlin

Russian disinformation campaigns in Germany become controlled directly from the Kremlin. According to research published on Monday by NDR, WDR and “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, this is confirmed by internal documents from the Moscow-based company Social Design Agency (SDA).

One of the The aim is to strengthen the AfD in polls. The head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, pointed out the dangers of these campaigns to the media involved.

Russia is acting “pragmatically and thematically flexibly in order to make the best possible use of divisive potential and inner-societal discourse in Germany,” NDR, WDR and “SZ” quoted Haldenwang as saying. His agency is working “intensively to counteract the destructive To identify actors and prevent them from destabilising our democracy”stressed the head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

According to the research, the Kremlin sees Germany as a preferred target for the spread of disinformation. False information in Germany is to be “increase fear of the future” and strengthen right-wing parties.

The AfD, it says in a quoted Russian document, should achieve an approval rate of 20 percent – and this is done by a polling institute whose results are published throughout Europe and which is considered trustworthy.

One of the main narratives of the Russian campaigns is the claim that the German support for Ukraine is to blame for the “deepest economic and social crisis of recent history”. The impression should be created that Germany is economically on the brink of collapse.

Russia’s hybrid warfare

According to the research results, SDA spreads narratives around the clock on social networks, which are intended to benefit the Russian government. This is apparently being done in close coordination with Vladimir Putin’s presidential administration, it was said. The media involved are citing the analysis of internal presentations, tables, lists, graphics and protocols from SDA, which were passed on to them by an anonymous source.

According to the source, the Moscow company was hacked.The Kremlin wants to harm Germany, and this evil must be stopped,” the source said in writing about her motivation.

In addition to pro-Russian comments, SDA also spread on Facebook, X, Telegram or Instagram mainly memes (images or texts of a humorous or sarcastic nature) and caricatures. Since the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, there have been attempts to use targeted interventions to separate the Federal Republic from the Western alliance and to strengthen Moscow’s advocates in this country.

The company SDA has long been considered a central instrument of propaganda and hybrid warfare Russia. It is also said to be one of the originators of the so-called doppelgänger campaign, in which the news pages of major media companies were recreated in a deceptively realistic manner and filled with fake news. The EU imposed sanctions on SDA in July 2023.

In Germany, the AfD and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) are considered to be the main parties that adopt and represent Russian narratives, but also other political and social actors.