Tuesday, April 16, 2024

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.

Russian Censors Falsify Evidence Against Newspaper to Uphold Ban on Political Coverage

Almost a year ago exactly, the Kremlin’s media watchdog agency, Roskomnadzor, warned a series of news outlets against publishing reports about a protest that took...

Lyudmila Savchuk, Former Russian Internet ‘Troll,’ Awarded 1 Ruble In Symbolic Damages

A Russian court Monday awarded symbolic damages of one ruble ($0.01) to a former “Kremlin troll” who worked for an alleged “factory” responsible for creating pro-Russian...

“Hitler was an Anglo-American stooge”: the tall tales in a Moscow bookshop

Conspiracies abound in the Dom Knigi store’s non-fiction section, but what is truly unknown is the extent to which Russians believe what is written. Adolf...

Russia’s ‘Draconian’ Internet Laws Mostly Ignored By Industry Experts

Russian Internet legislation has been the subject of great concern among free expression advocates, policymakers, and average Internet users. RuNet Echo has reported extensively...

Is Jeremy Corbyn Putin’s latest ‘useful idiot’ in Europe?

As Jeremy Corbyn's lead over his rivals continues to grow in the Labour leadership contest, views he's expressed once of interest chiefly to the...

Russia bans Reddit

Reddit, one of the most popular destinations on the Internet, has been added to Russia's list of banned websites. The Federal Drug Control Service...

Emergence of a Russian ‘Fifth Column’ and Propaganda Machine Inside Azerbaijan

The recent intensification of high-level exchanges between the governments of Azerbaijan and Russia—most recently exemplified by the visits of the Azerbaijani foreign and defense...

“Patriotic” Russian Media Group Gets the Go-Ahead

The process of creating a "patriotic media group" in Russia is moving forward, with the government having greenlit the acquisition of Russian Media Group...

Pro-Russian Web Network Digs Up the Dirt on Kremlin Critics

In mid-July, RuNet Echo reported on a sprawling network of pro-Kremlin websites, discovered through the use of open-source information such as Google Analytics IDs,...

Russian Foreign Ministry Gets New, Outspoken Mouthpiece

Maria Zakharova, a Foreign Ministry official generally credited with a dramatic vulgarization of the tone of its official releases, has been appointed its top...