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By Alexandr Popadin / Unsplash Life Inside the Fortress: Everyday Reality Challenges Kremlin Narratives in Kaliningrad In official discourse, Kaliningrad is increasingly portrayed as Russia’s western fortress: resilient, patriotic, and under constant external pressure. Yet propaganda must also compete with people’s everyday experience. Rising prices, logistical disruption, security alerts and the militarisation of public life shape how residents perceive the consequences of R

Photo: Ruslan Mingazhov / Unsplash From bridge to fortress: How the Kremlin is recasting Kaliningrad Kaliningrad Oblast is a Russian semi-exclave on the Baltic Sea, separated from mainland Russia and located between Lithuania and Poland – both members of the EU and NATO. The region itself was created after the Second World War from the northern part of former East Prussia, transferred to the USSR under the Potsdam agreements in 1945. This makes Kaliningrad simultaneously a Ru

When Armenian voters renewed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s mandate in the June 2026 parliamentary elections, they did more than choose a government. They chose closer cooperation with the European Union. That choice made them a target. As Armenia deepened its relations with the EU, it became a frequent target of Russian Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI). Attempts to discredit European engagements are a recurring feature relayed across social media pl

Russia has proved time and again it doesn’t believe in fair play, preferring to cheat at every turn. Vladimir Putin’s sportswashing cannot be allowed. The soccer World Cup is nearing its climax, but the geopolitics of international sports are only just heating up. The executive board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on July 7 that it is provisionally lifting Russia’s suspension from the organization. It reasoned that Russia “no longer includes as its mem

The Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, a sacred site that the Kremlin has for decades called its spiritual cradle and a main centre for Orthodoxy in Russia, is now in the crosshairs of Russian weapons. On the night of 15 June 2026, Russia launched a missile and drone strike on Kyiv that caused a massive fire in the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra. Ukrainian authorities have estimated the damage to the ancient shrine, one of eight UNESCO World Heritage sites, at over 500 million hryvnias (

Source: Ruptly/ Tass While Ukraine most often garners headlines for its drone warfare innovation, the country is also producing a playbook for countering the destructive effects of Russian propaganda. This Ukrainian experience offers important lessons for the wider Western world. As NATO leaders convene for the Ankara Summit on July 7, the alliance’s future is at stake. Key objectives in Ankara include sustaining American commitment and embedding drone technology across the i

Ukraine’s accession to the European Union is not only a political process. It is a strategic security choice for Ukraine and for Europe. That is why Russia is attacking it not only with missiles, but also with manipulation, fear, and distrust. A joint report by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), Beyond the Battlefield: Russia’s Information War Against Ukraine’s European Future, shows that Russia’s attempts to underm

Russian First Person View (FPV) drones have become a defining feature of the war in Ukraine. The same drones used to drop explosives on civilians and military targets are also being used to distribute propaganda leaflets in frontline communities, combining physical violence with psychological warfare. A video report from Kherson. The combination of violence and persuasion may seem contradictory, but studies of coercive control offer an explanation. The Russian tactics in Kher

Since launching its illegal invasion against Ukraine, Russia has developed a category of narratives aimed at covering the war according to its preferences. However, Russia’s Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) campaign has recently abandoned even the slightest pretence of credibility. While the Ukrainian military is regaining a tactical military advantage and Russian successes on the battlefield are dwindling, Moscow’s disinformation machine is trying to

Yandex is one of Russia’s leading technology companies. Just like Google, for more than twenty years it has served as the gateway to the internet, as well as a source of knowledge about the world and current events, for many users in Russia and abroad, especially in the countries of the former Soviet Union. The problem is that the Russian state has long manipulated the information Yandex users receive in their searches, shaping a distorted picture of reality. Those who buy an

The Kremlin’s efforts to show it’s an accepted member of the global community require enormous work by every arm of the regime. Source kremlin.ru The International Security Forum, a conference held at the Live Arena, a huge concert venue in the military park outside Moscow, was conceived as a direct challenge to the West’s high-level gatherings. The Kremlin announced that the Forum, held at the end of May, would be an alternative to the Munich Security Conference, which for t

According to Danish state authorities, there were no major foreign influence campaigns to speak of in the lead-up to Denmark’s March 2026 parliamentary election. Local fact-checkers and journalists tracked pro-Russian narratives and fringe propaganda channels, but nothing resembling a broad, coordinated campaign with significant reach emerged. Monitoring and analysis by Defense Innovation Highway and OpenMinds of part of the Danish online information environment during the ca

Dating apps promise connection, chemistry, and maybe even love. For Ukrainian and Russian intelligence services, they also offer something else: data, emotional vulnerability, and a private channel to manipulate targets. When Russia launched its full-scale illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the front lines extended beyond the physical battlefield into the digital space. Among many other sites, dating platforms such as Tinder and its local equivalents became operati

The Kremlin’s intention to control its digital environment is not new. Even Russians’ most widely used messaging app, Telegram, was not spared from it. However, a failed 2018 effort to block the app exposed the limits of direct restriction. Despite regulatory pressure, the platform continued to operate, creating a ‘grey zone’ where even pro-government voices could express limited forms of dissent. In 2026, this phase appears to be ending. Besides blocking external platforms,

The Kremlin has long injected propaganda into the Russian educational system in order to boost the ‘patriotism’ of Russian youth. Putin’s future ‘child soldiers’ not only take part in regular flag raisings, anthem singings, and meetings with ‘heroes’ of the ‘special military operation’ (‘SVO’) in Ukraine. They also participate in drone assembly and other types of military training. Besides patriotic rituals, the authorities also indoctrinate Russian schoolkids by systematical

The dead of World War II are now conscripts for the Putin’s regime’s battle to own 20th century history. The Immortal Regiment march in Montpellier, France / Source polk.press On May 8 and 9, so-called Immortal Regiment marches were staged across dozens of countries, with crowds carrying portraits of Russian relatives who died in World War II. The significance is far greater than mere commemoration; however, the Kremlin-aided parades represent a key regime propaganda event.

‘We didn’t kidnap anyone’, Russia’s then-ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, insisted in 2023. ‘We saved these children’. The ambassador was not simply denying the systematic deportation and forcible transfer of Ukrainian children by Russian occupation forces in Ukraine, a crime for which there is a growing body of evidence from international organisations, researchers, and human rights groups. He was using a well-known playbook – an information campaign seeking to paint t

Russia continues its attempts to disrupt and interfere with democracies in its neighbourhood. Learning from its failure in its attempt in the latest parliamentary elections in Moldova, Russia shifted its focus to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia – and this time with a head start, nearly a year before elections are set to take place. Russia tested the ground throughout the winter, seeding hostile narratives against the current Armenian authorities and candidates

Vladimir Kuznetsov, known as Vovan, and Alexei Stolyarov, who goes by Lexus, are known for pranking world leaders and celebrities. They have called many of them using fake aliases, often posing as Russian, Ukrainian, or Western politicians, publishing carefully selected excerpts on their social media accounts. Framed as comedy, their work is highly political, consistently reinforcing narratives favourable to Moscow. A shift after Crimea: targeting Ukraine and its allies Their

KEY EVENTS: Pro-Kremlin narratives attempted to discredit the parliamentary elections in Hungary and Bulgaria FIMI outlets engaged in nuclear fearmongering Messaging claimed that EU financial support to Ukraine prolongs the war Last week in review Pro-Kremlin information channels continued a months-long campaign targeting the 12 April elections in Hungary. The effort focused on discrediting the opposition party TISZA and its leader Péter Magyar, while accusing Ukraine and the