August 19 to August 22, 2022
- Most mentioned user among monitored accounts
- Most mentioned countries
- Output by Russian state-affiliated outlet
- Pro-Kremlin Tweets
- Many popular tweets made false comparisons, deflected
- Redfish, an RT subsidiary, boosting content to portray US as hypocritical
- Renegade, another RT subsidiary, boosted Dutch farmer conspiracy theories
- Russian state affiliate boosts far-right US candidate’s tweet
- There’s a conspiracy theory in the car bomb someplace: Darya Dugina
- Diplomatic and state-controlled media promoted the chemical-weapons claims again
- Tweets about Ukraine
Most mentioned user among monitored accounts
Most mentioned countries
Output by Russian state-affiliated outlet
Pro-Kremlin Tweets
Many popular tweets made false comparisons, deflected
One of the most popular tweets regarding retweets and likes references UK involvement via NATO in an airstrike to end years-long genocide.
Russian state-affiliated accounts tweeted and retweeted a post attempting to compare Russia’s actions to those of NATO to stop a genocide.
Lee Stanahan, a Russian state affiliated account also retweeted the false comparison.
Redfish, an RT subsidiary, boosting content to portray US as hypocritical
Redfish is a subsidiary of RT. The account, similar to other Russian state-affiliated accounts, highlights action taken by the US, a NATO country, in an attempt to deflect from its actions in Ukraine. Popular examples are included below.
Another false equivalency comparison from the RT subsidiary Redfish.
Ukraine received the same treatment as the US, with a long-time Kremlin propagandist using Amnesty International’s report to claim Ukraine is breaking international law
Russian state employees boosted individuals who have a history of spreading disinformation favorable to the Russian state. Early in the invasion Patrick Lancaster alleged he found a car with a victim, implying the person had died in a shelling. The skull showed evidence of an autopsy, suggesting the body was stolen from a morgue.
Renegade, another RT subsidiary, boosted Dutch farmer conspiracy theories
Russian state affiliate boosts far-right US candidate’s tweet
A Russian state-affiliated account amplified the far-right candidate Kari Lake. According to AP:
“Kari Lake, a former news anchor who walked away from her journalism career and was embraced by Donald Trump and his staunch supporters, won the Republican primary for Arizona governor” on August 5, 2022.
There’s a conspiracy theory in the car bomb someplace: Darya Dugina
An RT employee retweeted pro-Kremlin account RWApodcast’s post saying the FSB has solved Darya Dugina’s murder and accusing a Ukrainian citizen they allege has fled to Estonia. The inclusion of Estonia means any action Russia takes could invoke Article 5. Thus, this detail serves to attract even more attention. The assertions that Dugina was murdered by a Ukrainian could also prove helpful in rallying Russians behind Putin whose ability to lead is likely in question with the recent strikes in Crimea, Ukraine.
What air defense doing ??? indeed.
Russian state-affiliated George Galloway asserts that Dugina’s death would have been avenged by the UK had it been a Palestinian killing an Israeli journalist, He provides no evidence to support the claim and is employing rhetorical style favored by the Kremlin.
Garland Nixon tweeted that Kremlin insiders “leaked” that they are considering banning Germans from entering Russia because “quite frankly, they only shower once a week and we can’t stand the smell.”
BREAKING NEWS: Kremlin insiders leak that they are considering banning Germans from entering Russia because “quite frankly, they only shower once a week and we can’t stand the smell.”
Diplomatic and state-controlled media promoted the chemical-weapons claims again
Spanish language RT continued the chemical warfare accusations that have been a mainstay of this invasion since early March 2022.
See for background on Russia and China’s collaboration in boosting a 2017 GRU narrative: https://novelscience.substack.com/p/russia-changed-its-story-about-bioweapons.