Germany says Russia has stepped up disinformation campaigns

Germany has reported a surge in Russian disinformation campaigns in Europe aimed at undermining support for Ukraine.

This was stated in an interview with the Financial Times by Ralf Beste, Head of the Department for Culture and Communication at the German Foreign Office.

Beste noted that Russian disinformation campaigns have become larger, more sophisticated, and more invisible.

"This is a definite threat that we must take seriously. In general, (there is) an increase in complexity and influence compared to what we have seen before," the German diplomat said.

According to him, Russia is combining greater complexity and plausibility of its messages with automation to make its attacks more effective and difficult to counter.

"There's probably a lot going on that we don't even see. More and more conversations are happening in private ... Telegram and WhatsApp channels. It's very difficult to understand what's going on there," Beste added.

His department has a special unit that leads the German government's efforts to track and disrupt Russia's information operations abroad.

Beste stressed that the Russians are "looking for cracks of doubt or anxiety and trying to expand them."

This year, his department uncovered one of the largest attempts to manipulate German public opinion on the social media platform Twitter (X).

Author - Olena Madiak, 01/04/2024