Securing Democracy Dispatch

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“Ukraine has demonstrated in the starkest terms that modern warfare is fought on the battlefield and in the information space.” Thus, as Europe races to strengthen its conventional defenses, Europe should integrate foreign information threats into its core defense strategy as well, Senior Manager for Europe and Fellow Vassilis Ntousas writes for GMF.

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

• Marine Le Pen’s Conviction: Russian politicians and state media negatively responded to French politician Marine Le Pen’s sentence for embezzlement, which, in addition to a four-year prison sentence, prohibits her from running for office for the next five years. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov bemoaned that more European capitals are “trampling on democratic norms”, while Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesperson Maria Zakharova declared that the verdict shows “the agony of liberal democracy”. RT’s Going Underground compared the French court’s decision to that of Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau to bar far-right candidate Călin Georgescu from running in Romania’s upcoming presidential elections after a court determined that Georgescu “did not respect ballot regulations”. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitri Medvedev questioned whether Russian Cossacks were necessary to “restore freedom to France”, drawing historical parallels to the Battle of Paris in 1814, which led to French leader Napoleon’s surrender.
• USAID: Russian propaganda outlets celebrated the shutdown of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), falsely claiming that the organization paid $4 million to TIME Magazine to name Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy “Person of the Year” in 2022. TASS shared this debunked claim, citing Russian Senator Aleksey Pushkov. In his Telegram post, the senator alleged that USAID expenditure reports show this transaction, pointing to a month-old conspiracy theory that has since been fact-checked by several media outlets. Pushkov also stated that TIME was not the only media outlet that received large payments for such publications. Sputnik Mundo used this allegation to conclude that “this is how information is fabricated in the West”. LIFE.ru emphasized that this incident demonstrates how foreign news media manipulate public opinion. Lenta.ru, in its reporting about the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle USAID, asserted that the organization supported Ukraine and, according to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, “has long strayed from its original mission”.

The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) diplomats and state media focused on two main narratives this week: 

• Earthquake in Asia: PRC messaging covered the fallout of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar and Thailand on March 28. Some state media outlets highlighted the bravery of Chinese medical personnel in areas affected by the disaster. Xinhua, China Daily Hong Kong, and CGTN America hailed the arrival of a Chinese rescue team in Myanmar. A spokesperson for the PRC MFA, the PRC Embassy in the United States, Xinhua, CGTN Europe, and the Global Times then relayed in great detail how the team was conducting its rescue operations. CGTN also promoted Chinese civil society organizations’ initiatives and advertised high-tech solutions that could assist rescue efforts.
• Taiwan: Last week, PRC state media outlets including the People’s Daily, China Daily, and China News covered news of PRC military exercises taking place around Taiwan. The PRC Ambassador to Colombia, CGTN, and China Daily relayed footage of different weapons systems deployed around the island. CGTN called Taiwan’s leaders “parasites” and the Global Times portrayed them as insects that had to be burned—extraordinarily harsh rhetoric, even by the PRC’s standards. CGTN personality Wang Guan hosted American economist Jeffrey Sachs, who advised Taiwan not to trust the United States. Pro-PRC commentator Li Jinjing claimed that the island’s only value to Washington was “serving as an unsinkable aircraft carrier”.

Russian diplomat’s speech fabricated headline purporting to be from UK newspaper: The United Kingdom condemned a speech delivered by a Russian diplomat at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s arms control forum in Vienna. The diplomat cited a falsified headline about Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region that was edited to appear as if it was on the front page of UK newspaper the Hull Daily Mail. The edited newspaper cover had circulated on social media the week prior. Open-Source Intelligence Analyst Larissa Doroshenko tells the Dispatch, “Fact-checkers from the AFP verified that this headline wasn’t authentic. Additionally, this Russian diplomat attributed three other headlines supporting Russia’s claim that Ukraine’s allies were enraged by its “failure” in Kursk to USA Today (American), the Telegraph (UK), and La Croix (French). Yet, ASD researchers could not verify any of these headlines, suggesting that they too were fabricated, albeit without their own edited graphics on social media. The Kremlin keeps saying that Western media is corrupt, yet has no issue citing them to support its narratives targeting domestic and foreign audiences—or a diplomatic forum.”

In Case You Missed It

• The European Commission proposed strengthening Europol’s mandate to encompass kinetic operations and other foreign threats and boost cooperation with trusted non-EU countries, as well as bolster intelligence sharing between member states and EU institutions.
• A network of fake Chinese consultancies and recruitment companies has been attempting to lure recently laid-off US government employees, including through LinkedIn and recruitment ads.
• In his US Senate confirmation hearing, the US nominee for ambassador to Italy raised alarm over PRC police stations rumored to exist in multiple cities across Italy.
• Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk blamed foreign interference for a cyberattack that hit his Civic Platform party this week.

“For too long, the Kremlin has been responsible for unacceptable threats to our national security—from damaging cyberattacks, malign attempts to interfere in our democratic processes, and attempted assassinations in this country. … The new measures will make it harder for Russia to conduct hostile acts against us in the future and demonstrate once again this government’s unshakeable commitment to keep our country and our people safe.”

—UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, announcing new measures to protect the United Kingdom from foreign malign influence.

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