BRICS summit: Kremlinbots drive major propaganda push
During the BRICS summit, "kremlinbots," or accounts supporting the Kremlin's policies on social media, organised one of the largest propaganda campaigns in recent years. Thousands of comments aimed to convince Russians and global public opinion of Vladimir Putin's growing importance and lack of interest in Volodymyr Zelenskyy, reports the independent Russian service Werstka.
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It was no coincidence that in media coverage of the BRICS summit held in Kazan, images of UN Secretary-General António Guterres embracing Alexander Lukashenko or Vladimir Putin were promoted. - The campaign aimed at creating a positive image of Russia around the BRICS summit has recently become one of the largest conducted by so-called "kremlinbots." There likely hasn't been an action of a similar scale - an administrator of the Botnadzor service told Russian media.
Botnadzor monitors the activity of fake accounts on social media that support Kremlin policies. The task of "kremlinbots" is to amplify and generate traffic around propaganda content and posts.
- About the summit, 10,000 comments were generated on the social network VKontakte. Meanwhile, concerning the elections in Moldova, only a few hundred - summarise independent Russian analysts. In their opinion, this shows the real context of the summit in Kazan, which was meant to improve Putin's image globally.
The opportunity awaited by "kremlinbots." Leaders and the Russian point of view
One of the main narratives was promoting the view that Russia is not in international isolation because representatives from over 30 countries participated in the summit. "Half the world came to us for such an important summit, and the West will continue to speak of isolation. More and more countries, even Turkey, which is now a NATO member, are applying for BRICS membership," bots wrote.
In the same spirit, the visit to the summit by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who previously refused to participate in the peace summit organised by Ukraine in Switzerland, is also mentioned. "Zelenskyy already replied something to Guterres, saying he shouldn't have gone to the BRICS summit, but he forgot that his opinion doesn't matter to anyone," was stated in a series of comments.
- From a propaganda perspective, the summit in Kazan was well prepared. It was used propagandistically to the fullest extent. There hasn't been such a massive action of social media accounts promoting the "Russian point of view" on so many foreign fronts simultaneously in a long time - comments Dr. Michał Marek, an expert on disinformation from the Centre for Research on Modern Security Environment.
This is the Putin the BRICS summit was supposed to show
Our interlocutor points out that in the disinformation campaign, Russian sources attempted to promote a positive image of Putin and Lavrov, also indicating the supposedly crucial influence of BRICS countries, the declining importance of the US, and the sanctions imposed on Russia. As part of these efforts, the significance of the Russian army's successes in the aggressive war against Ukraine was exaggerated.
- The Russian side took advantage of the media attention devoted to the BRICS summit in Kazan to project its own narratives into the infosphere of individual participant countries. The aim was to portray Russia as a force that not only isn't in a state of international isolation but is a new world leader, supposedly enjoying widespread international support and respect. Vladimir Putin himself is presented as someone respected and befriended by other state leaders, a figure who has made Russia an international power that everyone counts on - assesses Dr. Marek.
- Many exaggerations and manipulations were also used to distort the true nature of relations between Russia and China. It was supposed to depict them as two powers with equal relations. This is not the case. It is the Russians who seek China's attention, while the Chinese side still does not recognise Russia as an equal partner - adds WP's interlocutor.
Representatives from over 30 countries participated in the BRICS group summit (the acronym comes from the English names of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Commentators from Germany and France remarked on the event as an attempt to rebuild Russia's international position, which found itself in isolation after the invasion of Ukraine. It was emphasised that although the BRICS summit aimed to show that Russia still has allies on the international stage, the initiative itself raised doubts, given the divergent interests of the individual members.
In the United States, the main topic was BRICS countries' pursuit of creating alternative financial systems that could challenge the influence of the US and NATO on the international stage. Proposals such as using local currencies in transactions between BRICS members or creating independent settlement infrastructure were presented as challenges to existing financial structures. Commentators noted that similar actions, especially in the context of sanctions imposed on Russia, aim to reduce dependency on the dollar and the SWIFT system.
