Date of publication: 13 Apr 2022 • 2 hours ago • 3 minutes reading • 115 Comments Members of the Canadian Army during the Crystal Arrow 2022 exercise on March 7, 2022 in Adazi, Latvia. Photo by Paulius Peleckis / Getty Images
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OTAWA – Russia is spreading distorted images that falsely claim Canada military members are fighting on the front lines in Ukraine, according to our country’s digital espionage service.
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The Communications Security Foundation (CSE) said Wednesday it was part of a new Russia-based disinformation campaign targeting Canada. Kremlin officials have been “directly” involved in coordinating disinformation efforts aimed at advancing Russia’s geopolitical goals and undermining its Western adversaries, according to recently declassified information posted on social media by the CSE. Recently, the CSE says that Russia has not only used state and local media sources to spread misinformation, but has also increased its influence on the “non-state, pro-Russian” voices that reach millions of people, particularly on social media. “The Kremlin’s efforts to manipulate the global public are being promoted through various communication platforms that often feature anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, anti-LGBTQ + material, anti-immigrant commentary, anti-globalization and QAnon content,” the CSE warned. The statement does not name any of these platforms.
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Russia is also promoting misinformation through state-controlled online stores that have been deliberately set up to look and sound just like a legitimate media outlet. The CSE refused to provide the names of stores, social networking sites or online influencers it found to be circulating Russian misinformation and misinformation, citing operational safety concerns. But Russia’s efforts are now deliberately targeting Canada as it falsely claims that NATO and Canadian troops are actively deployed in Ukraine to fight Russian troops invading their western neighbor.
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This is through false stories planted in Russian-backed stores. “This included a false narrative about the presence of Canadian troops in the Donbas area, which dates back to the news of the arrival of Canadian troops in Ukraine for the security of the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv,” the CSE said in a statement. at events a week ago. Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. But the cyber-defense service also found that the Kremlin had instructed the media to also publish “medical” images of CAF members on the front lines fighting Russia in Ukraine. In other cases, reports have suggested that Canadian military members were committing war crimes, despite the fact that none had been deployed in Ukraine.
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The CSE declined to provide examples of distorted images to help Canadians warn of distorted images, again citing operational security concerns. However, spokesman Evan Koronevsky said some of the examples came from planned future Russian disinformation campaigns that the CSE had learned about in advance through classified information. “We believe it is worthwhile to point out Russia’s planned and ongoing disinformation activities related to their illegal and unjustified invasion of Ukraine,” Koronewski said in an email. “Russia’s disinformation activities do not focus exclusively on the Ukraine-Russia geographical area,” he added. “Rather, they target both the Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking audiences around the world, including Canada.”
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Canada’s spy services have repeatedly warned that Russia was one of the biggest supporters of cyber-threats against the country. Russia is also said to be an “extremely capable threat” that is notorious for promoting disinformation campaigns to advance its interests and thwart its opponents. The latest information from the CSE comes after its first warnings two weeks ago that there were numerous Russian disinformation campaigns that had reached Canadians’ ears since the start of the war and that a rise was possible. Among the examples given were false narratives from Russia about Ukrainians as well as anti-war protesters in Russia. The CSE, for example, said it had found evidence that Russia was spreading fake stories claiming that Ukrainians were “collecting the bodies of fallen soldiers, women and children” and then hiding the data through mobile incinerators.
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Two weeks ago, the CSE also warned: “We have seen Russia’s efforts to promote stories that falsely categorize Russian protesters and citizens who oppose the invasion as supporters of neo-Nazis and genocide.” The agency concluded that Russia had unexpectedly spread a false media report that its invading forces were only attacking military targets in Ukraine. This is an unfounded claim that Russian officials have repeatedly made at the United Nations as well as in interviews around the world. On Tuesday, the mayor of Mariupol, a Ukrainian city that has seen the fiercest fighting with Russian troops since the February 24 invasion, put civilian casualties at 21,000. • Email: [email protected] | Twitter: ChrisGNardi
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