HAMBURG — Have you seen reports from news channels that you’d never heard of before — be it in Die Zeit or in any other serious outlets?
Reports about how, for instance, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky owns several luxury yachts, as well as Joseph Goebbels’ former villa. Or that the U.S. is “operating bioweapons labs in Ukraine.” Or that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was named “employee of the month” at the U.S. embassy in Berlin. Or that Germany wouldn’t survive without cheap Russian gas. One might be tempted to shrug these reports off as fake news, and promptly forget about them.
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But since the middle of last week, we have started to know more about how such disinformation enters our world, where it comes from — and how dangerous its spread can become: On Thursday night, U.S. justice authorities seized more than 30 domain names and proceeded to charge Russian citizens for interfering in the American election campaign.
Sanctions are being imposed on 10 Russian officials and propagandists, also on allegations of election interference. In parallel, U.S. authorities have presented documents exposing a large-scale Russian operation aimed at influencing European governments. Germany in particular, along with France, is at the center of this hybrid warfare. And according to the documents, it all originates behind the Kremlin walls.
Project: “Inciting international conflict”
In recent years, the Russian company Social Design Agency (SDA) has conducted extensive campaigns on social networks, primarily in English and German. SDA acts on instructions from the Russian government. A familiar face, former Prime Minister and current Deputy Chief of the Kremlin Administration Sergey Kiriyenko, is said to be involved in giving orders to launch measures of hybrid warfare against Germany.
This is evident from the Russian documents intercepted by U.S. authorities. These include a project titled “Inciting international conflict” that aims to “escalate internal divisions” in countries allied with the U.S. to “promote the interests of the Russian Federation on the international stage.”
How? Through a wide range of “tools” meant to sway public opinion in target countries like Germany, by “influencing real-life conflicts and artificially creating conflict situations.”
The campaign aims to plant doubts in Germany: Why are we sending Kyiv so many weapons?
The means in question include false reports, fake videos and doctored images, spread by pro-Russian politicians, influencers, journalists and automated bots — and in particular through websites that resemble those of German or French media, but are actually a conduit for Russian government propaganda.
This disinformation campaign aims to plant doubts in Germany: What if Ukraine is thoroughly corrupt? Why are we sending Kyiv so many weapons? Doesn’t Putin just want recognition and ultimately is looking for peace? Aren’t sanctions useless?
The propaganda operation also strives to sow dissension among allies, and paint Americans as an occupying power, the British as enemies of peace, NATO as a war alliance without which peace would reign across Europe.
These are the distorted images Putin is spreading in Germany, and whose powerful consequences were there for all to see in the recent regional elections in Saxony and Thuringia.
Lapping it up
Of course, the fact that interested parties within Germany are also actively engaged in similar disruption efforts, meaning that many citizens are receptive to it. Russia’s war was an major topic during the election campaign, but many politicians chose to blame the U.S. for it. Anti-Americanism, racism and hatred of NATO are important emotions into which both the far-right AfD party, and partly the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) of populists on the left tapped to catch votes.
The aim: Intensify real conflicts and create artificial conflict situations.
Recent studies have shown that eastern Germany, in particular, is an avid consumer of Kremlin-affiliated channels and social media influencers. AfD and BSW politicians there often share positions that are very close to those of Russian propagandists, fueling resentments spread by Russia on social media: be it against the strengthening and re-equipping of the Bundeswehr army, or through the false claim that no one was talking to Putin — or that as soon as one negotiated with Putin, the war would be over. Wrong, in both instances — but the desired outcome had been achieved.
In Thuringia, the AfD has achieved a “blocking minority,” having won enough seats to veto decisions that require a two-thirds majority in parliament. Any coalition without it would be seen as shaky, and potentially unstable. In Saxony, the CDU, victorious against the AfD, will probably have to work with other smaller parties that could severely damage or tear apart the center-right union. The Social Democratic Party (SPD) faces shrinking to the the size of the Free Democratic Party . The Greens are confined to German inner cities.
Across the country, politicians are calling each others names, accusing each other of selling out democracy. “To influence real-life conflicts and artificially create conflict situations” was what the Kremlin masterminds wanted. They could say: Mission accomplished. And they’ve only just begun.
