Saturday, February 21, 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.

Dutch Report: MH17 Downed By Buk Surface-To-Air Missile

Dutch investigators say that a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane that crashed in a conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in July 2014 was brought down...

Opulent Propaganda: The Subterranean Paradise of the Moscow Metro

For two weeks last year, Canadian photographer David Burdeny spent his nights 200 feet underground, shooting the surreal opulence of the Moscow Metro. With their ornate chandeliers,...

More Russians Play U.S. Green Card Lottery, Despite Propaganda

The number of Russians entering a competition to win the right to permanently reside in the U.S. has grown by 58 percent — nearly 100,000 people — since 2012, the Znak.com news website reported Monday,...

RT sanctioned by Ofcom over series of misleading and biased articles

The Kremlin-backed news channel RT has been sanctioned by Ofcom for a series of misleading or biased programmes on the conflicts in Ukraine and...

Russia Today to launch a French-language news channel in Africa

The public Russian television, Russia Today (RT) is planning to introduce a French version of its news channel in Africa. The Russian channel will...

An odd way to make friends

RUSSIA’S behaviour in Syria resembles the fable of the scorpion who promises not to sting the frog that carries him across the river, but...

One of the Russian Internet’s Founding Fathers Wants to ‘Erase Syria From the Map,’...

Moscow’s intervention in Syria is having some funny consequences back home in Russia. One of the strangest episodes in this story is Anton Nossik’s...

MH17 – The Open Source Evidence

This report can be downloaded as a PDF here. Introduction This report summarizes the open source investigations into the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) on...

Initial Findings of the Crowdsourced Geolocation and Analysis of Russian MoD Airstrike Videos from...

Yesterday Bellingcat launched an effort to use the Checkdesk platform to geolocate and collect additional information on videos posted by the Russia Ministry of Defence...

Russian Propaganda, Disinformation, and Estonia’s Experience

The international community faces serious challenges arising from a new mode of information warfare, which Russia has deployed during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in 2014-2015....