Russia’s war against Ukraine is not just fought militarily. There is a parallel information war going on, which can be very difficult to see through.
– A central part of the fight is to have control over where people find information and what they find of information, says former director of ICT-Norway, Torgeir Waterhouse, to TV 2.
– Torgeir Waterhouse believes Norway should increase its preparedness for cyber attacks and fake news. Photo: TV 2
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They find this, among other things, by monitoring logins on various services.
– Russia has used this as an active weapon both in peacetime and now in a war situation. The goal is to control the impression of the situation, and how the truth is experienced, he says.
– Skeptical of numbers
On Saturday, reports came from the Ukrainian authorities that 3,500 Russian soldiers had been killed in the battle for Ukraine. At the same time, the authorities were able to report that fewer than 200 Ukrainians have lost their lives.
Lieutenant Colonel and head teacher of strategic communication at the Norwegian Defense College, Geir Hågen Karlsen, says the death tolls that are reported can hardly be true.
So far, only Ukraine has released figures on deaths.
– In Russia they do not talk about numbers, while Ukraine has come up with some numbers. At the same time, we see that the figures that Ukraine provides are not complete, he says.
He emphasizes that in a combat situation it will take time to register the number of dead.
The UN estimates on Sunday that 64 Ukrainian civilians have been killed, but they also say that the real number is significantly higher.
– It is impossible to count the dead when you are in battles, because you are busy surviving. If you are driven backwards and the enemy advances, you will not know what the losses are either civilian or military, he says.
He says he does not trust any numbers that come.
– I probably trust the Ukrainians more than the Russians, but there are so many interests here, so I am skeptical of all numbers. It is clear that the Ukrainians also have an interest in conveying that the enemy has suffered great losses, while they themselves do not. This is part of a game, he says.
Landslide of false information
In addition to deaths that can be difficult to trust, there are plenty of photos, videos and apparent news reports. These are often spread on social media, and many do not correspond to reality.
On Saturday morning, President Volodymir Zelensky published a selfie video from Kyiv. In the video, he points out that Ukraine does not lay down its arms. He does this to refute allegations on social media that he had capitulated.
“Such misinformation (which Zelensky may have to refute) can be an active attempt to mislead soldiers into believing that it is an order to lay down their arms,” Waterhouse said.
Fake videos and photos
There are several examples of video clips from previous dramatic attacks being disseminated as new. Once the clip has started circulating, it is difficult to stop the flood of rumors.
A seven-year-old video from an explosion in China, for example, has been spread with the claim that there is a power plant in Luhansk.
A video on TikTok that has 20 million views claims to show Russian paratroopers jumping over Ukraine – the truth is that the video is from a Russian military exercise in 2018, writes the news agency AP.
– FALSE: This video is spread on the internet, but is from a video game. Photo: Screenshot
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Another widely-shared video allegedly shows a Russian plane dodging anti-aircraft guns. It’s from a video game, writes Reuters.
Pictures have also been spread of Christians in Ukraine kneeling in prayer in a park. The picture has been shared 50,000 times since February 19, but the picture is from 2019 and shows people praying for peace and religious freedom.
Kremlin
During the early days of the war, the term “kremlbots” has been constantly referred to. It is Russians who are exposed to these false profiles on social media, which form a major part of the Kremlin’s propaganda apparatus. Russians TV 2 has spoken to say that so-called “Kremlin bots” appear in their message boxes on social media if they are critical of President Vladimir Putin or the war.
Russian Evgeniya Ivanonva points out to TV 2 that she has a relatively small following on social media, with about 1000 followers on Instagram.
– BOTS: Such a message with pro-Russian propaganda was sent to Evgeniya Ivanova after she posted a Putin-critical story on Instagram Photo: Screenshot
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– Still, I get messages from what we call «kremlbots», says Ivanonva.
She explains that the messages appear in connection with the fact that she has published material in her channels that is critical of Putin.
Cyberattacks
Cyber attacks can help increase this confusion. Apps are affected, and people are tricked into downloading new ones that contain malware. Then the authorities get good control over who people are, what services they use and where they stand politically.
It is a problem that people are not familiar with this to a large enough degree, Waterhouse believes.
– This requires competence and knowledge to protect oneself against such, regardless of whether one is a government apparatus, a media house, companies or a private person.
– We have a great need for preparedness, protection and security in this field to a greater extent than we have been aware of, he says.
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