Journalists expose Kremlin's disinformation contractor agency that spreads discrediting information about Ukraine

Journalists have found that the Russian Social Design Agency (SDA), which claims to be a media support organisation, is actually using disinformation to discredit Ukraine and promote Russia's interests.

Source: investigation by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and NDR and WDR TV channels; Skhemy, an investigative reporting project by Radio Liberty

Details: The published documents show that Russian analysts from the SDA thoroughly research the information field of Ukraine, identify sensitive topics and use them to polarise society. The agency is headed by Russian political strategist Ilya Gambashidze.

Topics include mobilisation, battlefield casualties, restrictions on freedom of speech during martial law, reduced military aid, corruption and the counteroffensive.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's complicated relationship with his predecessor Petro Poroshenko, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko and former Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi is also used to divide society.

In particular, media outlets discovered the process of creating a fake document allegedly from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence: an order to the heads of units and departments of the Armed Forces not to confirm "information about the presence of prisoners of war for exchange on board" the IL-76 that crashed in Russia’s Belgorod Oblast in January 2024. The purpose of this fake, as described in the related documents, is to accuse the Ukrainian military leadership of censorship and concealing the truth about the crash.

The "fake and pretence register" also contains a fake order allegedly issued by Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, equating the surrender of soldiers to treason. The purpose of this fake, as stated in the description of the Russian agency's task, is to "discredit the military and political leadership of Ukraine and undermine the morale of the Armed Forces of Ukraine".

The leaked documents show that Gambashidze's political technologists are behind both the launch and promotion of pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk's "political movement", Drugaya Ukraina (Other Ukraine).

Viktor Medvedchuk, the former chairman of the political council of the banned Opposition Platform for Life party who was accused of treason, announced the creation of this "movement" in January 2023.

Medvedchuk is proposed to be positioned there as a "consistent fighter for the peaceful future of Ukraine" who "talks about the benefits of starting a peaceful dialogue as an alternative to a possible nuclear war" and conveys the message that "Ukraine should stop being used as a testing ground for Western weapons".

SDA carefully records the activities of its bots, which leave comments under posts by Ukrainian government agencies, law enforcement agencies, politicians and Ukrainian media. The document Statistics of Centre C's work from the SDA leak shows that from January to April 2024, the team published almost 34 million comments.

According to the leaked documents, members of the team create and replicate fabricated videos on social media stylised as Western media materials, aimed at Ukraine.

In addition, the SDA is involved in the creation of memes, one of which, featuring Volodymyr Zelenskyy, was shared on the social network Twitter (X) by Elon Musk.

Also, according to the documents obtained by journalists, SDA tried to influence the EU parliamentary elections held in June 2024. They were supposed to help right-wing forces that would promote pro-Russian narratives.

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