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Russia appears to be behind claims that Ukrainians are torturing each other

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Russia appears to be behind claims that Ukrainians are torturing each other

A thread claiming to show Ukrainians mercilessly beating men, women, and children has gone viral. It appears tied to Russian state media and was shared over 20,000 times before it was removed.

Mar 22, 2022
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Russia appears to be behind claims that Ukrainians are torturing each other

novelscience.substack.com

NOTE: This is a working paper and has only been published early to prevent false narratives from spreading.

Updated: Shortly after 9 pm ET, Twitter suspended one of the accounts spreading the graphic disinformation videos, but the narrative was allowed to spread long after Twitter became aware of the account. The platform had deleted other earlier posts.

Update-2: Twitter suspended another account in this report. The original poster of the videos is telling people in the Telegram channel to post the videos from Telegram to Twitter.

Updated-3: Multiple suspended accounts have been reinstated on Twitter and are engaging in coordinated amplification of false narratives about Ukraine.


Videos claim to show Ukrainians torturing each other

A thread claiming to show Ukrainians mercilessly beating men, women, and children has gone viral. That Ukrainians could even be outside their homes with the non-stop shelling beggars belief. Still, I found a lot of questionable details about this account and the post, followers, and retweeters.

Account history

Archive history shows the user claimed to be from Scotland earlier but has since removed that from the profile. The account used to have a listed name that looked something like “Elon Musk,” at which point it promoted links for “eloninvest.org.” The account went dormant for a years-long period, as is common with inauthentic accounts.

The user is clearing 400 tweets per day, with the majority of tweets in support of pro-Kremlin narratives. This is an exceptionally high number of tweets, especially from an account that had no tweets for years before this.

TruthNest assesses the account as highly active and highly influential. Content from this user may be designed to reduce support for Ukrainians by portraying them as Nazis or violent. EUvsDisinfo covered “denazification” as one of the key long-term narratives for the Kremlin. The crisis actor claims didn’t work out, so maybe this is trying something new.

All of the user’s most popular tweets promote the idea that "the media" are conspiring to lie about what is happening in Ukraine. Almost all of the user’s tweets are pro-Kremlin. Genuine users — even when they are zealous activists — rarely focus on a singular topic like this. A "sole tweeting purpose" is a recognized indicator of inauthentic activity.

The percentage of activity from this account from replies is unusually high. Sometimes this can mean the account is a "reply guy.” Whether “the media” report on this or not, we can see what is happening in Ukraine from satellite.

A pinned tweet is a new pro-Kremlin OSINT account

The author of the pinned tweet is new and appears to be an OSINT account, possibly to gain traction using the popularity of OSINT accounts in gaining independent intelligence on the war.

The user has a backup account listed in the user’s bio. Already the account was suspended for Ukraine disinformation. It used a backup account to evade the ban and did so openly. Ban evasion is a policy violation so this account remaining online is disappointing.

Following and Followers

The account follows multiple Russian state media outlets and also employees, but used to appear to be from Scotland. Today it follows Spanish-language Russian state propaganda channels and hosts and is exceptionally focused on the situation in Ukraine—especially how much people don’t approve of Russian aggression. Additionally, the account follows a host from Iranian state TV and an account for the so-called People’s Republic of Lugansk.

Retweeters

Perhaps the most relevant connection is that an early retweeter of the torture videos also retweeted the account that seeded the maternity hospital disinformation narrative in the days before the attack (possibly suggesting foreknowledge) and spread false claims about one of the victims after the bombing. Russia has now repeated the pattern of claiming a location is a military base, bombing it, and then sowing incoherent narratives about what happened.

Some of the earliest accounts interact with the thread by tagging news outlets or highly influential figures in far-right politics or anti-vaccine movements. Another user who quote tweeted one of the disinformation tweets is posting about Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, and vaccine requirements.

Older posts showing the torture content had been removed, but Twitter has allowed some of the accounts posting this content to increase and spread doubt about the claims of people being killed in Ukraine. It’s clear Twitter is aware of the account because it has removed other posts with similar videos.

One account that retweeted the original thread had a Telegram channel, so I looked at it.

Account has a preference for Russian state-affiliated author

The retweeter’s Telegram channel shares content from Andrew Korybko, who writes for at least a dozen Russian-state affiliated outlets, including Sputnik News to OneWorld.Press.

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The Telegram post link is an outlet recognized as controlled by the GRU. One World had the InfoRos logo in its directory. The GRU controls InfoRos. The US Treasury said of InfoRos:

The GRU operates InfoRos. InfoRos calls itself a news agency but is primarily run by the GRU’s 72nd Main Intelligence Information Center (GRITs). GRITs is a unit within Russia’s Information Operations Troops, which is identified as Russia’s military force for conducting cyber espionage, influence, and offensive cyber operations. InfoRos operates under two organizations, “InfoRos, OOO” and “IA InfoRos.”

Denazification narrative

Korybko circulated false claims about denazification recently. He’s still on Facebook spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation but should have been removed a long time ago for promoting 2020 election disinformation. At least two of these outlets are linked to Russian intelligence.

The channel is spreading disinformation about the Syrian use of chemical weapons and sharing content from authors affiliated that work for Russian-state media and an outlet affiliated with the GRU. The channel link history shows content from Global Research and Grayzone. Tribune.com.pk frequently published Russian state-affiliated authors.

Time is of the essence, so I'm sharing this now.


Twitter thread based on this report

Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
DISINFORMATION UPDATE THREAD: Russia appears linked to false claims that Ukrainians are torturing each other. The post was shared over 20,000 times before it was removed. novelscience.substack.com/p/russia-appea…
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
There is a disinformation campaign claiming to show the Ukrainians torturing people. I will post a report when I finish but this is important enough I want to say something now. The accounts are suspicious.
1:27 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
434Likes273Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
1/ Archive history shows the user claimed to be from Scotland earlier—seems to have been into divisive posts—but has since removed that from the profile. The account also had an Elon Musk profile name for a while and posted spam.
Image
1:29 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
61Likes14Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
2/ The user is clearing 400 tweets per day in support of pro-Kremlin narratives. This is an exceptionally high number of tweets, especially from an account that had no tweets for years before this.
Image
1:34 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
83Likes15Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
3/ The user's most popular tweets promote the idea that "the media" are conspiring to lie about Ukraine. Genuine users, even when they are zealous activists, rarely focus on a "sole tweeting purpose. Research shows it's an indicator of inauthenticity. mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/9…
Image
1:40 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
68Likes17Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
4/ The author of the pinned tweet is new and appears to be an OSINT account, possibly to gain traction using the popularity of OSINT accounts in gaining independent intelligence on the war.
Image
1:41 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
60Likes10Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
5/ The account has a backup account listed in the user’s bio. Already the account was suspended for Ukraine disinformation. It used a backup account to evade the ban and did so openly. Ban evasion is a policy violation so this account remaining online is disappointing.
Image
Image
1:42 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
66Likes14Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
6/ The account follows multiple Russian state media outlets and also employees, but used to appear to be from Scotland. Today, it was following Spanish-language Russian state propaganda channels and hosts and is exceptionally focused on the situation in Ukraine.
Image
1:46 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
59Likes14Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
7/ Examples for tweet 6
Image
Image
Image
1:49 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
41Likes5Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
8/ Additionally, the account follows a host from Iranian state TV and an account for the so-called People’s Republic of Lugansk.
Image
1:49 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
41Likes4Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
9/ An early retweeter of the torture videos also retweeted the account that seeded the maternity hospital disinformation narrative in the days before the attack (possibly suggesting foreknowledge) and spread false claims about one of the victims after the bombing.
Image
Image
1:51 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
49Likes9Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
10/ Russia has now repeated the pattern (maternity hospital and drama theater) of claiming a location it attacked is a military base and sowing incoherent narratives about what happened.
Image
1:52 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
57Likes12Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
11/ Some of the earliest users to engage, tagged news outlets or influencers in far-right politics or anti-vaccine movements. Another user who quote tweeted one of the disinformation tweets is posting about Lia Thomas, a transgender athlete, and vaccine requirements.
Image
Image
1:54 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
46Likes13Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
12/ One account that retweeted the original thread had a Telegram channel, so I looked at it. The retweeter’s Telegram channel shares content from Andrew Korybko, who writes for at least a dozen Russian-state affiliated outlets, including Sputnik News to OneWorld[.]Press
Image
1:57 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
46Likes11Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
13/ The Telegram post link is an outlet recognized as controlled by the GRU. One World had the InfoRos logo in its directory. The GRU controls InfoRos, per US treasury. home.treasury.gov/news/press-rel…
Image
1:58 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
43Likes10Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
14/ Korybko circulated false claims about denazification recently. He’s still on Facebook spreading pro-Kremlin disinformation but should have been removed long ago for promoting 2020 election disinformation. At least two of these outlets are linked to Russian intelligence.
Image
Image
1:59 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
45Likes8Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
15/ This author has the distinction of being an author for the state-media trifecta Russia archive.ph/02RKN China archive.ph/RAd7v Iran (interviewed for article) archive.ph/0zRFT
Image
Image
Image
Image
2:03 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
38Likes10Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
16/ The channel is spreading disinformation about the Syrian use of chemical weapons and the channel link history shows content from Global Research, Grayzone, and Tribune[.]com[.]pk frequently published Russian state-affiliated authors.
Image
Image
2:05 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
33Likes7Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
17/ There will be more but it was important to get some of the evidence out, given that there are people in the West on the far right and left that are fooled by this disinformation.
novelscience.substack.comRussia appears linked to false claims Ukrainians are torturing each otherA thread claiming to show Ukrainians mercilessly beating men, women, and children has gone viral. It appears tied to Russian state media and was shared over 20,000 times before it was removed.
2:08 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
43Likes18Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
18/ Слава Украине. Слава Україні.
Image
3:01 AM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
51Likes6Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
19/ Update--Twitter suspended another disinfo account in my report. The original poster of the videos is telling people in the Telegram channel to post the videos from Telegram to Twitter. @TwitterSafety, please pay attention to this. I warned about it almost a month ago.
Image
Image
2:30 PM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
40Likes9Retweets
Twitter avatar for @NovelSci
E Rosalie @NovelSci
20/ Both the account that originally posted the violent videos and a second account suspended by Twitter were previously amplified by a conservative influencer. The Ukrainian maps account was pinned to the violent video poster's profile and was shared by Posobiec.
Image
3:52 PM ∙ Mar 22, 2022
22Likes6Retweets

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Korybko articles:

  • CGTN (2022) - Chinese state media

  • Frontier India (2022)

  • ForeignPolicyNews.org (2021)

  • Francophone Saker (2022)

  • Freepen.gr (2022)

  • Geopolitica.ru (2019)

  • Global Research (2022)

  • Global Village Space (2021)

  • Global Times (2022)

  • Planetes360.fr (2022)

  • PressTV (2021)- article cites Korybko as a source - Iranian state media

  • ModernDiplomacy.eu (2022)

  • Off-Guardian (2021)

  • OneWorld.Press (2022)

  • RussianCouncil.ru (2021)

  • Sputnik News (2022)

  • Tribune.com.pk (2021)

  • TheAltWorld (2021)

  • Theprint.in

  • TheWire.in (2021)

  • USA Really (2018)

  • Voice of the East (2021)

  • Whispers from the North (2022)

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Russia appears to be behind claims that Ukrainians are torturing each other

novelscience.substack.com
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