Russian bot network on Telegram channels spreads comments with the help of artificial intelligence

For more than a year, from January 2024 to April 2025, this network left 316,000 comments on Telegram channels in the occupied territories of Ukraine to simulate people's support for the Russian Federation. Of the total number of comments, the most frequent messages were those criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a total of 48,000 comments. In addition, the bot network left more than three million comments in Ukrainian and Russian groups and chats. This is stated in the investigation by OpenMinds and DFRLab.

A typical bot of this network based on generative artificial intelligence can promote different narratives, respond to previous messages and adapt its own. In a third of all comments, bots created unique text written by artificial intelligence to imitate human language - for example, with errors - and thus avoid detection.

This work is part of Russia's overall strategy to dominate the information space. By 2023, the ecosystem of Russian Telegram channels in the occupied territories had expanded to more than 600 channels.

The researchers found that the main role of bots in the occupied territories of Ukraine was not only to spread propaganda, but also to simulate normal life and create the illusion of support for the occupation by citizens living in those territories.

"They were not trying to argue with anyone, their task was to quietly and (almost) imperceptibly change the tone of public discussions, helping to normalize the occupation," concludes researcher Yulia Dukach. “The bots of this particular network were more likely to react to context and keywords (both in the post and in the comments to it), but they did not enter the discussion – they just left their customized message and moved on. AI is already excellent at rewording propaganda theses into natural, relatively convincing, but most importantly, diverse phrases. And that is why it is becoming increasingly difficult to detect bots. And they are becoming cheaper and cheaper for Russia. Formally, for such a network, one programmer and one person who formulates topics and rules for AI are enough. And that’s it. This, unfortunately, is the small tip of the iceberg of just one segment of the Telegram channel.”

The comments often contain praise for the Russian leadership, infrastructure, and support from people from the Russian Federation. A large number of seemingly “local” messages expressing

gratitude to Russia or contempt for Ukraine help create what researchers call an “artificial consensus.”

In general, the topics of this bot network can be divided into three categories:

Negative - portray Ukraine as a failed state. They contain personal attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, especially accusations of terrorism.

Positive propaganda promoting Russia and its government.

Neutral - emojis, statements about the horrors of war and the need for peaceful coexistence between nations.

Researchers conclude that by filling in info fields with fake comments, Russia creates the illusion of widespread support for the occupation, so that people conclude that "everyone thinks so." And this is a powerful tool for controlling the information field.

The 10 most popular messages from Russian bots for the audience in the occupied territories of Ukraine are:

Criticism of Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership - 48,000 comments.

Criticism of Ukraine - its government, population or actions on the front - 13,500.

Criticism of the "collective West", double standards and intervention - 11,800.

Criticism of the United States and its policies – 10,900.

Humanitarian or state aid to residents of occupied territories – 10,600.

Comments on the threat posed by drones, especially to Russia – 10,300.

Restoration of water supply in occupied territories – 9,600.

Accusations of Nazism in Ukraine – 9,600.

Development of transport infrastructure in occupied territories – 9,200.

Security and availability of protective structures in occupied territories of Ukraine – 9,100.