Two men in St. Petersburg have been linked to organizing pro-Russian fake demonstrations in major European cities including in the Netherlands. Video footage and photos of these fake demonstrations are then spread via social media. This is according to an investigation by Danish public broadcaster DR.
A Russian intelligence agency has been linked to at least 10 fake demonstrations aimed at sowing discord in Europe. The men spread disinformation about organized large fake demonstrations against arms aid to Ukraine in countries including France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain, trying to spread the content to hundreds of thousands of people on Facebook and YouTube.
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The 10 identified actions took place between December last year and March this year in European cities such as The Hague, Brussels, Paris and Madrid. The men distributed photos and videos of fake actions with identical messages and misspellings on the posters, with the same individuals returning at different actions.
Large demonstrations in Europe are increasingly being used by Russia for “short-term operations,” said Søren Liborius, chief adviser at the EU Joint External Action Service.
The investigative organization Dossier Center granted DR access to a Russian intelligence document that lists the social mediaaccounts of the two men. The document shows that the men distributed images and videos of fake actions in Facebook groups totaling some 350,000 members.
Both men are from North African countries and moved to St. Petersburg to study at university. After contacting DR, their Facebook and YouTube profiles were deleted.
The Russian presidential administration and defense ministry did not respond to inquiries from DR about the case.
