Russian disinformation network targets Ukrainians at Winter Olympicspublished at 10:35 GMT
10:35 GMT
Thomas Copeland
BBC Verify Live journalist
A major, longstanding Russian disinformation operation is using the Winter Olympics to make Ukrainian athletes and fans appear aggressive, corrupt and unlikeable, experts have told BBC Verify.
We have analysed 43 examples of fake news stories since 30 January shared with us by independent researchers. The individual impact of the fakes has been limited, but together they reveal the methods being used to undermine support for Ukraine.
“They have been using tactics like this to turn Western opinion against Ukraine for years, and the Olympics are an opportunity to target new audiences,” according to Darren Linvill, a media forensics expert at Clemson University.
BBC Verify has been tracking the operation for several years. One of the many names it goes by is Matryoshka, a reference to a Russian nesting doll because of the impersonation tactics it uses.
The operation’s latest campaign about the Winter Olympics has been reported by NewsGuard, Agence France-Press and Euronews.
Almost nothing is known about where Matryoshka operates, who runs it and whether it has links to the Kremlin. But, we’ll bring you more details on how the operation works over the course of our coverage today.