Måned: april 2017

Kilde: bellingcat – Tankspotting: T-90As in the Donbass – bellingcat

How Russian-language media in Poland and the Baltic States portray NATO’s reinforcements Time series of posts on the main negative narratives about the NATO deployment By Ben Nimmo, DFRLab In July 2016, NATO member states decided to enhance the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe on a rotational basis, with four multinational battalion-size groups in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The move was intended to strengthen NATO’s deterrence and defense posture and serve as a reminder that “an attack on one is an attack on all,” in line with Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty. The Kremlin interpreted the decision as a hostile act and pledged to respond. The main element of that response has been an increase in Russian military activity in the Baltic Sea region, in parallel, pro-Kremlin and Russian state-funded media in the region have run a series of negative stories on the deployment. While some of these were legitimate pieces of journalism, some were significantly distorted,

Kilde: Russian Narratives on NATO’s Deployment

A snapshot of online manipulation on the eve of a parliamentary vote Source: Twitter. Accounts posting the same wording and image ahead of the Armenian election Armenians go to the polls on April 2 for the first election under a new law which marks the transition towards a parliamentary system of rule, Ben Nimmo and Donara Barojan wrote for DFRLab. The days before the election saw a spike in manipulative behavior on Twitter, including fakes, bots, and the targeted blocking of key accounts. Fake e-mail First, at the end of March, tens of Twitter users tweeting in Russian started sharing a fake USAID email implying that the US is meddling in Armenia’s elections. Source: Pastebin, via Onnik J Krikorian / Twitter The email was debunked by the US Embassy in Yerevan, which pointed out grammatical and spelling mistakes in the text, and the implausibility of a genuine USAID email coming from a gmail account: Source: US Embassy Yerevan / Facebook. As of the evening of April 1, the

Kilde: Fakes, Bots, and Blockings in Armenia

Russia’s RIA Novosti agency announced this week that Ukrainians have repeatedly asked Crimean occupation forces to share the peninsula’s electricity with the bordering southern region of the country. Website screenshot Ria The area in question, Ukraine’s Kherson region, has no energy shortages and is one of the country’s leaders for renewable energy. RIA’s source is Zaur Smirnov, the chairman of Crimea’s State Committee for International Relations. He claims that Ukraine’s southern regions have limited resources and are suffering energy shortages because of Kyiv’ energy blockade of the annexed peninsula. According to Smirnov, ordinary Ukrainians continue to maintain ties with Crimea, they accept that Crimeans’ decision to reunite with Russia is the right one, writes RIA, but provides no evidence for Smirnov’s unsubstantiated claim. REN TV, Russia’s Defense Ministry television channel Zvezda, Russia Today, Vzglyad, Argumenty I Fakty, Pravda.ru, Vestnik Kavkaza and other Russian

Kilde: Fake: Ukrainians Ask for Electricity from Crimea

http://en.censor.net.ua/news/434568/only_11_out_of_700_servicemen_under_age_of_20_agreed_to_leave_ato_zone_muzhenko