Securing Democracy Dispatch

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Russian diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week:

• Trump’s Tariffs: Russian state media speculated about the US-People’s Republic of China (PRC) trade war’s adverse consequences for the US economy and expressed support for its BRICS partner. RT Español warned that the PRC holds a “secret weapon”—US Treasury bonds—that could cause US mortgage rates to “skyrocket” if they sell them. Sputnik Mundo also cautioned that PRC export restrictions on rare earth minerals could jeopardize the US armed forces’ development of a sixth-generation fighter jet. RT announced that, following an appeal of the PRC’s Commerce Ministry, BRICS nations discussed possible reciprocal tariffs, while Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko declared that Russia was ready to send the PRC as much oil as it needs. RT also amplified a PRC government tweet featuring a recording of former US President Ronald Reagan, in which he says: “the surest way to throw Americans out of work is to start a trade war”.
• Ceasefire Negotiations: Russian officials and propaganda outlets discussed the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff last week in St. Petersburg, Russia. Kirill Dmitriev, Russia’s special envoy and the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, described the meeting as “productive”, asserting the possibility of commercial cooperation between Moscow and Washington. RT’s Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan labeled the meeting “a success”, emphasizing a gesture made by Witkoff toward Putin that “broke Russophobes”. Sputnik highlighted Witkoff’s advice to US President Donald Trump that the fastest way to peace in Ukraine would be to recognize “Russian sovereignty over new territories”. RT reminded readers that people in “liberated regions” of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson overwhelmingly voted to join Russia, failing to note the illegality and illegitimacy of the so-called referenda. 

The PRC’s diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week: 

• Tariff Response, Part I: PRC diplomats and state media portrayed US tariffs as an unwarranted attack on their country. A PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson relayed a Mao Zedong speech, in which he pledged to “never yield” in a war not of the PRC’s choosing. The PRC Consul General in Osaka, Japan shared a video of a “USA ram” pointlessly running into a stalwart “China ram”. The PRC Embassy in Brazil broadcast clips of PRC leader Xi Jinping warning that “nothing intimidates (…) those who have grown up facing storms”. To highlight US isolation, PRC state media accounts showed Xi meeting officials from Spain, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia, as well as Apple CEO Tim Cook praising Chinese workers. The PRC Embassy in the United States’ post on X announcing the PRC’s decision to raise tariffs on US goods was viewed almost 11 million times.
• Tariff Response, Part II: The PRC Embassy in Kenya quoted Mao saying that “America is just a paper tiger” while the spokesperson for the PRC Embassy in India cast doubt on Trump’s assertion that countries were lining up to negotiate. The PRC Embassy in Colombia and a CGTN commentator shared variations of the same meme poking fun at the inflationary consequences of US tariffs. The PRC Embassy in the United States broadcast an open call to resist “US hegemony and bullying”, insisting that appeasement would only embolden the bully. A Pakistan-based diplomat relayed a Brazilian cartoon of a PRC panda kicking Trump’s rear with tariffs, while a pro-PRC influencer portrayed her country as the EU’s ally against the United States and a rampart against “US empire pillaging, exploiting, [and] gaslighting”.

US State Department closes office that tracked foreign information operations: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the closure of the Counter Foreign Malign Information and Interference Hub, a Department of State office that tracked information campaigns run by US foreign adversaries and terrorist organizations, citing its supposed role in censoring American conservative voices. Managing Director David Salvo tells the Dispatch, “It is to the everlasting detriment of US national security and US interests overseas that the State Department would shutter a hub that tracks foreign information manipulation and interference operations. With overwhelming evidence that Russia, the PRC, and other authoritarian regimes are conducting these campaigns to destabilize US allies and outcompete the US around the world—including in our own backyard, the Western Hemisphere—we’re shooting ourselves in the foot. Moscow and Beijing especially will gladly capitalize on this gift. Finally, the State Department is not involved in affairs inside the United States and does not censor freedom of speech, which is why the Department, in making this announcement, could not offer evidence of the Hub engaging in censorship.”

One-third of Americans duped by false claims spread by Russia: A YouGov survey that presented a sample of 1,000 Americans with ten false claims that have spread widely online—including three about Ukraine that originated or were primarily spread by Russian state media outlets—found that 33.9% believed at least one of the claims spread by Russia. Senior Fellow Bret Schafer says, “This study likely points more to a general knowledge gap around current events than a shift in Americans’ attitudes toward pro-Russian perspectives. Nonetheless, receptivity to wildly false claims, regardless of their point of origin, provides an opening for those trying to manipulate public opinion and makes it harder to solve a range of political and geopolitical crises.”

UK government considers tightening rules for PRC activities in the country: The United Kingdom is debating whether to list the PRC on the most enhanced tier—alongside Russia and Iran—of its new Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which would require Beijing to register all activities in the country with the UK government. Research Analyst Etienne Soula says, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant and the United Kingdom’s moves to improve transparency around agents acting on behalf of authoritarian regimes are a step in the right direction. And while Russia has proven itself to be the most disruptive of these regimes in Europe in recent years, the PRC is a close second. As such, it would be completely counterproductive for the upcoming framework to exclude Beijing’s proxies from the enhanced tier of scrutiny.”

In Case You Missed It

• The pro-Russian influence network Storm-1516 spread five false narratives about scandals in France—including allegations against French President Emmanuel Macron of sexual misconduct—that generated more than 55 million views between December 2024 and March 2025, according to a NewsGuard investigation; some artificial intelligence chatbots, including the French Le Chat, even repeated the claims.
• TikTok is testing a “community notes”-style feature called Footnotes to allow users to add additional context to posts deemed misleading or inaccurate, which the platform’s algorithm will screen before displaying.
• Swedish authorities arrested an ethnic Uyghur man for allegedly spying on fellow Uyghurs for the PRC in Sweden. 
• A bipartisan pair of US senators introduced a bill to reauthorize a law set to expire in September that facilitates information sharing about cyber threats between private companies and the US government. 

“The uncertainty regarding the future of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is the main American voice in countering Russian disinformation and projecting democracy and Western ideals and values, represents a strategic misjudgment at a time that the Kremlin is ramping up its information operations in the region.”

—Disinformation Observatory’s recent report about the Russia-linked Pravda online influence network and its efforts to target Eastern European audiences.

The views expressed in GMF publications and commentary are the views of the author alone.