EU strikes Russia again as digital infowar rages on| Cybernews

EU strikes Russia again as digital infowar rages on

Updated on: November 15, 2023 12:53 PM

Damien Black
Senior Journalist

EU flags — Image by Yves Herman | Reuters

Russia has been slapped with yet more restrictions by the EU, which imposed measures against seven nationals and five entities that it says are engaged in “digital information manipulation” in aid of the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The latest raft of bans centers on a disinformation campaign which the EU calls Recent Reliable News, said to be conducted by Russian media outlet InfoRos, closely linked to the Federation’s military intelligence body the GRU.

InfoRos is believed by the EU to be behind more than 270 proxy online media outlets that spread propaganda in support of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

As well as that, a Cybernews exclusive last year highlighted open-source intelligence-based research that suggested InfoRos was behind a years-long domestic campaign of misinformation and propaganda targeting Russian citizens.

Other entities fingered by the EU as accomplices to InfoRos are ANO Dialog, a Russian non-profit body linked to the Department of Information and Technology, the Institute of the Russian Diaspora, the Social Design Agency and Structura National Technologies, and two Russian IT firms.

“We are targeting those carrying out information manipulation and interference as part of a broader hybrid campaign by Russia against the EU and the member states,” said Josep Borrell, foreign affairs spokesman for the bloc. “With these new listings we are sending a strong signal that we know how they manipulate our information space and how they operate.”

All sanctioned entities are subject to an assets freeze within the EU jurisdiction, and citizens of the 27-member bloc are forbidden from funding them. The seven people hit by the latest injunction cannot transit or enter EU countries.

To date, the EU has imposed similar restrictions on around 1,800 people and organizations suspected of Russian affiliation.