Thursday, January 22, 2026

Context

Stories in the Context section are not fakes. We publish them in order to provide greater insight for our readers about the techniques, methods and practices used by the Russian government in its information war. They appear on our site with the permission of their original publisher and reflect the views of the authors and not necessarily the position of StopFake’s editorial board.

In 2026, the Russian Economy Is in Big Trouble

By EUvsDisinfo In 2026, the Russian economy is not yet in decline, but it is in real trouble. War-driven growth is losing momentum, sanctions are...

How Russia’s influence machine mobilized immediately after Maduro’s capture

By Eto Buziashvili, for DFRLab Unable to protect an ally, Moscow’s digital assets deployed narrative confusion A broad Russian influence infrastructure, with a history of targeting US...

AI, memes, and hashtags: How China is battling the US online over Venezuela 

Chinese state media and inauthentic accounts promoted narratives of US decline By Kenton Thibaut, for DFRLAb Chinese state-linked social media accounts deployed a unique strategic response...

Controlled Questions, Crafted Lies: Inside Putin’s Year-End Messaging Machine

By EUvsDisinfo On 19 December 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin once again appeared on his annual televised call-in programme, ‘Direct Line with Vladimir Putin’, answering questions...

From “Journalism” to FIMI: EU Sanctions Diana Panchenko

By EUvsDisinfo The European Union has adopted a new round of sanctions aimed at countering Russia’s ongoing hybrid threats, including foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI) and...

When Borders Tighten, Propaganda Inflates: The Kremlin’s Border Disinfo Playbook

By EUvsDisinfo 2025 was certainly a bad year to be flying in or out of Lithuania. According to the Ministry of the Interior, 320 flights have...

The Catholic News Agency of Mexico: a Distribution Tool for Pro-Russian Disinformation Campaigns with...

By Maldita En corto: The Catholic News Agency of Mexico, founded in 2019, regularly republishes disinformation campaigns originating from Russian websites such as Argumenty i Fakty...

5 Insidious Disinfo Narratives Spread by the Kremlin

By EUvsDisinfo Russia is the world’s largest disinformation spreader, and Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) is one of its main tools for eroding trust...

Russia’s Insistence on a Defenseless Ukraine Betrays Putin’s True Intentions

By Peter Dickinson, for UkraineAlert As American, Ukrainian, and European officials continue to debate potential peace plans among themselves, there remains very little to indicate that Russia...

Rewriting Borders of Truth: How Russian FIMI Falsifies Historical Memory

By EUvsDisinfo Since the outbreak of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, Moscow has visibly intensified its fight for so-called ‘true history’. The Kremlin is rewriting school...