Global Rumour Mill: Pro-Russian narratives in Central and Eastern Europe focus on Ukrainian ‘Nazism’ and the demonisation of Zelensky
In early autumn, against the backdrop of elections in Bavaria, Slovakia, and Poland, there was a surge in the spread of pro-Russian disinformation narratives across European media. A peculiar fake story gained widespread circulation, claiming that the war in Ukraine was almost over, with the Ukrainian army suffering a concealed defeat. Western policymakers and mainstream media, it was alleged, were hiding this information in order to continue collecting aid for Ukraine.