DisinfoWatch

monitors, analyzes and exposes foreign disinformation targeting Canadians and our democratic allies.

[DisinfoWatch @DisinfoW]

Alex Jones falsely claims Canadians are being “snatched off the street” and committed to mental institutions for criticizing government.

They’re not. But this conspiracy is being spread by far-right U.S. MAGA aligned influencers.

https://t.co/ZS2FysJ25P

[DisinfoWatch @DisinfoW]

Russia’s “Merchant of Death,” Viktor Bout, threatens nuclear war + strikes against NATO with Alex Jones. Classic Kremlin escalation propaganda that frames Russia as victim, NATO as aggressor, and support for Ukraine as reckless. https://t.co/jaMKFWjd2G

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

Russia’s claim that Ukraine is preparing attacks on Russia from Latvian territory is false and baseless. Latvia has repeatedly said it does not provide airspace for attacks on Russia.

The false accusations, paired with threats to strike ‘decision-making centres’ in Latvia, are part of a broader Russian disinformation campaign aimed at trying to intimidate Europe, weakening support for Ukraine, and justifying further aggression.

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

Despite official denials by Ukraine, Kremlin outlets continue to circulate reports of the alleged imminent arrest of First Lady Olena Zelenska. At the same time, they are preparing the ground for the next disinformation narrative, meant to explain why the current disinformation narrative did not come to pass.

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

The EU is moving to phase out Russian energy imports by 2027. In response, Kremlin-affiliated outlets that predicted in each of the past four winters that Europe would freeze are with increasing desperation doubling down on the narrative of Europe’s inescapable dependence on Russian energy.

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

In a coordinated effort, Kremlin-affiliated outlets are spreading disinformation about the alleged imminent arrest of the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska. The false claim has already been officially refuted by Ukrainian authorities.

[DisinfoWatch @DisinfoW]

Russia has no “right” to attack NATO. This narrative is designed to intimidate Western publics and weaken support for Ukraine.
https://t.co/yvvO6cEq2Q

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

The Russian FIMI apparatus spent months trying to block the EU's €90 billion assistance package for Ukraine by pushing misleading narratives. Once it passed, the same apparatus began claiming the package would harm Ukraine.

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

When Ukraine strikes military targets inside Russia, pro-Kremlin propaganda quickly blames NATO, predicts escalation, and blurs responsibility. 

This reframing shifts attention away from Russia’s own actions and portrays defensive action as aggression. 

The sequence is predictable, and consistently selective.

[Marcus Kolga 🇨🇦🇪🇪🇺🇦 @kolga]

Join us next Wednesday in Toronto for a timely discussion w/ Jason Kenney on the implications of Alberta’s separatist movement.
Jennie Phillips, Brian McQuinn and I will also launch our new report on foreign information operations targeting this issue.
May 6, Toronto Reference Library
Register: https://t.co/I7RCmUtnD1
@Cybersecure_CA @DisinfoW

[Marcus Kolga 🇨🇦🇪🇪🇺🇦 @kolga]

Brand new Canadian Senate report on Russian information and influence operations finds "Russia’s disinformation poses an urgent threat to Canada’s national security, democratic institutions and social cohesion." Thank you Senators Kutcher, Yussuff and @DonnaDasko https://t.co/M7KOVHH2eN

[ICDS Tallinn @ICDS_Tallinn]

The restoration of Dzerzhinsky’s name to the FSB Academy is not mere symbolic nostalgia. It signals both ideological continuity and a practical return to Chekist-style totalitarian repression, writes @HosakaSanshiro.

https://t.co/PBiko8S8fE

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

In a study of more than 1,000 Russian prisoners of war conducted by the non-governmental group LingvaLexa and the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, 76% of soldiers believed at least one Kremlin propaganda narrative to some extent, and 68% perceived the ‘Special Military Operation’ as necessary.

[EUvsDisinfo @EUvsDisinfo]

It sounds like a prank call. It plays like a prank call.
But the punchline is geopolitics.
Kremlin-linked “pranksters” stage, edit, and amplify calls to push misleading narratives. It’s FIMI with a comedic filter: part theatre, part manipulation.

[Timothy Snyder @TimothyDSnyder]

Worth adding that Russia did as a matter of fact intervene for Trump in 2016 and that the evidence is widely known, abundant, and collected in various forms, including a Senate investigation, the Mueller report, multiple intelligence investigations, multiple reportorial investigations in the US and elsewhere, and multiple books. Leaving out that crucial fact allows the reader to miss the way this echoes prior authoritarian "investigate the investigator" moves as well as the fundamentally Orwellian character of this.
https://t.co/7bzV7nlK1Z

[Marcus Kolga 🇨🇦🇪🇪🇺🇦 @kolga]

Refreshing to speak about the threat of health related foreign influence with people on the real front lines: medical professionals + leaders who protect our health + nearly 1,500 in the room. Terrific discussion w/ the ever-inspiring @caulfieldtim, Sen Kutcher + @formerantivax.

[Foreign Policy CAN @CanadaFP]

Russia claims Ukrainian parents “voluntarily” sent their children to Russian camps.

Also Russia:
-Obtains “consent” under occupation and war
-Keeps children after short-term programs end

Consent to a summer camp does not equal consent to giving away your child.

#BringKidsBack

[Foreign Policy CAN @CanadaFP]

A new G7 RRM report documents how Russian state aligned FIMI targeted Moldova’s 2025 parliamentary election. Over 450 pieces of coordinated content were detected through joint, real time monitoring. Read more: https://t.co/5OFMuCWk49

[Marcus Kolga 🇨🇦🇪🇪🇺🇦 @kolga]

"Even abroad, you cannot feel safe anymore. Dictatorships have learned to pursue their opponents wherever they are."

[toomas hendrik ilves @IlvesToomas]

Russian spy behind conspiracy theory
A colonel in the Russian intelligence service GRU sowed the seeds for conspiracy theories about the Estonia disaster. It is revealed in a new book.
– We dare say that we would have had a different public about the M/S Estonia without the GRU's contribution, says journalist and author Patrik Oksanen.

Despite the fact that the cause of the disaster was clear relatively quickly – a bow visor that came loose in heavy seas – the conspiracy theories live on.

In "The Last Lie – Estonia and the Legacy of the Russian Spy", Patrik Oksanen and Andreas Edevald, a former diplomat working at the Psychological Defense Agency, show that much of it can be traced to one person: Anton Surikov, a colonel in the GRU.