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…
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…
Flash Report The story behind On February 15, 2015, three Russian nationals arrived in Sofia, Bulgaria and booked stays at two local hotels, albeit with an unusual request; the men wanted rooms with a view, but not of the…
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…
The conference will take place as a hybrid event with main venue in Sofia, Bulgaria and via Zoom. Check the conference agenda for more information Join us next week to discuss how we can overcome vulnerabilities in Southeast Europe related…
Flash Report Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has once again highlighted the risks associated with the EU’s considerable dependence on conventional energy supplies from Russia. Although the current energy crisis began before the war, it was exacerbated by Russia…
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…
CSD, together with several other organizations, including the AEJ, organized a press conference to talk about the Kremlin’s pro-Russian disinformation and anti-democratic messages in Bulgaria in the context of the information war. According to T. Galev from CSD, when disinformation…
Flash Report Author: Gloria Trifonova, Svetoslav Malinov, Todor Galev, CSD The Kremlin’s extensive and methodical disinformation campaign against Ukraine began long before its invasion on February 24, 2022. And it has only grown in complexity and scale since. Bulgaria is…
Although Russia’s economic presence in Europe has been declining in last two years, Bulgaria alongside with Serbia are the countries most inclined to safeguard and showcase pro-Russian disinformation and propaganda narratives and sentiments in Southeastern Europe. They serve as key…
The FENCE initiative, supported by the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), offers small-scale grants to boost fact-checking and debunking activities in Southeast Europe, with a special focus on Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania. The initiative’s aim is to reveal the Kremlin’s disinformation and propaganda narratives being…
Factcheck.bg is the first fact-checking platform in Bulgaria, endorsed by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies in the USA. Factcheck.bg was launched in June 2021 as an initiative of the Association of European Journalists…
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…
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…
Countering Russian disinformation and propaganda requires not only deterrence, but also a long-term strategy of media literacy training and awareness campaigns for the general public. In the short term, the creation of a state body to monitor the media environment…
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,…
The AEJ today calls for an EU-wide ban on RT, which has played a key part in spreading lies and endorsing “false flag” that ensured confusion over Vladimir Putin’s aggression against Ukraine, and in general seeking to weaken Western democracies…
The deal with the US for eight F-16 fighter jets is the most significant and expensive step in the modernisation of the Bulgarian army in at least 20 years, but now it is in danger of becoming a hybrid tool…
Bulgaria has once again proven to be one of the most insecure NATO member states – with a divided society, a “captured” political class, corruption and lack of leadership, and the cost of this behaviour in the deepening crisis over…
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…
On 12 November 2021, the Center of the Study of Democracy held a press conference Disinformation Narratives in the November 2021 Bulgarian Elections Campaign: Key Actors and Amplifiers. On the event was presented recent analysis assessing the main propaganda and disinformation…
In its Policy Brief Disinformation Narratives in the November 2021 Bulgarian Elections Campaign: Key Actors and Amplifiers Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) is exploring Bulgaria’s growing vulnerability to propaganda and disinformation in the context of November 2021 parliamentary…
