Download full report (PDF) Alongside its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in March 2022, Russia has intensified its efforts to undermine the national and common policies of the EU and NATO, as well as the other countries on the continent, by using hybrid operations and leveraging its economic influence. The countries of Southeastern Europe have been…
Flash report Author: Connor O’Kelley Introduction In his 1911 satirical compendium The Devil’s Dictionary, American author and journalist Ambrose Bierce defined diplomacy as “The patriotic art of lying for one’s country” – over a century later, as countries such as Russia and China utilize their embassies throughout Europe and the world as platforms to…
Download full report (PDF) The deliberate spread of disinformation and other types of false and/or misleading information is a ubiquitous and pervasive issue in Bulgaria. False information is constantly being proliferated on both traditional and social media by opaque networks of influence consisting of a wide variety of actors, including journalists, opinion leaders, business…
Flash report Author: Svetoslav Malinov One of the long-lasting disinformation narratives, originated and reiterated multiple times by Russian controlled media and amplified and republished constantly by the group of pro-Kremlin online news outlets in Bulgaria, refers to EU and NATO as the main factors for starting the war in Ukraine and opposing the Kremlin’s…
Download full report (PDF) Between 2021 and the first half of 2022, Bulgaria underwent several significant political events, including presidential elections and four parliamentary elections. This period was characterized by various challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in a surge of deaths, as well as unprovoked military aggression from the Kremlin and…
Flash report Authors: Goran Georgiev, Todor Galev The Bulgarian version of the nine-language Russia-controlled online outlet News Front could be classified as a small outlet, with around 150 thousand visits per month(1) as compared to mainstream media, which have from a few to tens of millions of visits per month. The company behind the…
Flash report Author: Svetoslav Malinov “There is an ever-growing number of new American secret laboratories showing up in the post-soviet space, conducting bio-military activities, especially in Ukraine” is one of the leading disinformation narratives in the time period 2019-2022, spread by pro-Kremlin figures in the Bulgarian online media domain(1) It is a complex narrative…
Flash repor Author: Svetoslav Malinov “USA/NATO seeks world domination through military and political aggression” is one of the persistent disinformation and propaganda narratives in 2021, spread by pro-Kremlin actors in the online media in Bulgaria (1). It is a complex narrative, which persists in different contexts and back- grounds, accommodating a series of other…
