Russia is funding a disinformation campaign in Latin America to discredit Ukraine, the US and NATO

The Kremlin carries out disinformation through developed media contacts in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, in Latin American countries, in order to manipulate information.

"The Kremlin's ultimate goal appears to be to spread its propaganda and disinformation through local media in a way that is receptive to Latin American audiences in order to undermine support for Ukraine and spread anti-US and anti-NATO sentiment," the report said.

American experts have determined that the Russian Federation uses local media and influential individuals to spread disinformation and propaganda. For these purposes, companies with influence and great technical capabilities, experience in using an open information environment, and a history of spreading disinformation and propaganda to achieve the goals of the Russian Federation are hired.

According to the research, Moscow distorts original stories, strengthens controversial discourse, and spreads false content that is useful for Russian influence.

 

Who is involved?

 

• Ilya Gambashidze, director of a Russian public relations firm known as the Social Design Agency (SDA), leads a hacker group composed of SDA and Structure members that conducts a disinformation campaign in Latin American countries;

 

• SDA project director Andrij Perla;

 

• general director of Structure Nikolay Tupikin;

 

• Pro-Kremlin journalist Oleg Jasinski.

 

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How it works

 

In one Latin American country, probably Chile, an editorial group of several local journalists and public opinion leaders from various countries in the region was organized.

 

The team in Russia then creates the content and sends the material to the newsroom in Latin America for proofreading, editing and final publication in local media. Pro-Kremlin content created in Russia will be "localized" by Latin American curators and published in Latin American media to appear organic.

The next stage is translation. The role of Moscow's Spanish-speaking linguistic editors is an integral part of the campaign. Editors often use pseudonyms to hide their true identity and ensure that the information is refined in a way that is acceptable to the target audience.

"Jasinski supports and uses a wide network of Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking journalists and media to spread pro-Russian messages, without compromising his efforts to more naturally absorb the content of Latin American media in favor of the SDA and Struktur," the report states.

 

Control of the pro-Kremlin narrative

 

The themes and indicators of success for the campaigns were developed in cooperation with and at the direction of the Russian government, and Gambashidze, Perla and Tupikin took a leading role in their development, according to the report.

Controlling the pro-Kremlin narrative is an important aspect in building a Latin American influence campaign, for which Tupikin follows the Kremlin's priority topics.

Mainstream narratives seek to convince Latin Americans that Russia's war against Ukraine is just and that they can unite with Russia to defeat neocolonialism.

These themes are consistent with Russia's larger narrative that it is a leader in the fight against neo-colonialism, when in fact it is engaged in neo-colonialism and neo-imperialism in its war against Ukraine and resource extraction in Africa.

There is an established relationship between Russian embassies in Latin America and funded media to increase the number of pro-Kremlin messages, spread anti-American narratives and develop partnerships between Russian state media and local media.