Russian web brigades in the context of "Russian information war against Ukraine"

As part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state and state-controlled media have spread disinformation in their information war against Ukraine. Ukrainian media and politicians have also been accused of using propaganda and deception, although such efforts have been described as more limited than the Russian disinformation campaign.

Russian propaganda and fake news stories have attacked Ukraine's right to exist and accused it of being a neo-Nazi state, committing genocide against Russian speakers, developing nuclear and biological weapons, and being influenced by Satanism. Russian propaganda also accuses NATO of controlling Ukraine and building up military infrastructure in Ukraine to threaten Russia. Some of this disinformation has been spread by so-called Russian web brigades. Russian claims have been widely rejected as untrue and crafted to justify the invasion and even to justify genocidal acts against Ukrainians. The Russian state has denied carrying out war crimes in Ukraine, and Russian media has falsely blamed some of them on Ukrainian forces instead. Some of the disinformation seeks to undermine international support for Ukraine and to provoke hostility against Ukrainian refugees.

Cyberwarfare by Russia comprises denial-of-service campaigns, hacking operations, disinformation programs, and state-directed online repression, including participation of state-sponsored teams in political blogs, internet surveillance using SORM technology, and other active measures, executed by Russian security and intelligence agencies since the 1990s to advance Kremlin geopolitical objectives.

Russian doctrine frames these operations within an informatsionnoye protivoborstvo (IPb), or information confrontation, approach that fuses technical network actions with psychological measures. Units of the GRU, FSB, and SVR oversee hacker collectives such as APT28, APT29, Sandworm, Turla, and Star Blizzard that target governments, infrastructure, and civil society across Europe, North America, and Asia.

The propaganda of the Russian Federation promotes views, perceptions or agendas of the government. The media include state-run outlets and online technologies, and may involve using "Soviet-style 'active measures' as an element of modern Russian 'political warfare'". Notably, contemporary Russian propaganda promotes the cult of personality of Vladimir Putin and positive views of Soviet history. Russia has established a number of organizations, such as the Presidential Commission of the Russian Federation to Counter Attempts to Falsify History to the Detriment of Russia's Interests (active 2009-2012), the Russian web brigades, and others that engage in political propaganda to promote the views of the Russian government.