Russia tries to use California fires to discredit Ukraine : NPR

Pro-Kremlin social media accounts and news outlets baseless story A Ukrainian military officer’s home has been destroyed by wildfires in Los Angeles. The claim has been viewed more than 1 million times on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Researchers who study Russian influence operations say this is part of a larger Kremlin campaign to discredit the Ukrainian government and undermine U.S. support for Ukraine.

“This is the latest in a long line of allegations by Russian officials, the media and the pro-Kremlin online ecosystem that Ukrainian officials are corrupt and are using foreign aid funds to line their own pockets. ” Léa Ronceau, a senior researcher at the research firm Graphica, told NPR in an email.

“This is typical of what we see from Russia, but [to] They use an ongoing crisis for their own purposes,” said Darren Linville, a communications professor and co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.

General coverage of Ukraine first appeared on the pro-Russian Telegram channel four days after the fire broke out in Los Angeles. Within hours, another Telegram channel, the X account, labeled as satire; pro-russian network One previously identified by French authorities. Some posts amplifying unsubstantiated claims were incorrectly attributed to United24 Media, a website affiliated with the Ukrainian government.

The Center for Combating Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine statement He described this claim as “Russian propaganda.” The company confirmed to United 24 Media that it did not create or share the article.

NPR has obtained no evidence that the Ukrainian general owned the Los Angeles home that was destroyed in the fire. The Ukrainian government denied to NPR that the general’s home was affected by the fire.

The next day, an influencer using the handle @OlgaBazova echoed a narrative previously promoted by known Russian influence networks, shared a story The English-language account has 700,000 followers on X. The account’s bio describes it as “exposing hypocrisy and satire and specializing in humorous geopolitical analysis.”

Late in the evening, Robert “Buzz” Patterson, an American conservative influencer with 400,000 followers on repeated the claimIn a post that was viewed more than 1 million times, with seemingly no sarcasm, according to data from X.

Contacted by NPR on X about the post, @OlgaBazova responded with a link to a Russian-language article that cited the original Telegram claim about the mansion.

Patterson did not respond to a message from NPR asking why he posted this claim.

The foundation of a destroyed house is seen on January 15, 2025 in Altadena, California. [to] They use an ongoing crisis for their own purposes,” said Darren Linville, a communications professor and co-director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub.

Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images/Getty Images

This story, which first went viral, was debunked by professional fact-checkers. Greece and US. Both @OlgaBazova and Patterson’s posts received user-generated community notes about X citing Greek fact checks.

Unconfirmed claims about the mansion allegedly being owned by Ukrainians were also posted on other social media platforms, including Tik Tok, TruthSocial and the Russian site VK, but failed to garner much attention.

This article argues that Russia will stop using fake social media profiles impersonating real people, as it did during the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections, and instead rely on influencers to launder discourse. Linville said this is the latest example of a virus being used to spread the virus.

In some cases, influencers say: Pay to post content It was later identified by researchers and U.S. intelligence officials as Russian propaganda. There is no evidence that influencers were paid to spread the Los Angeles fire claims.

When asked if anyone had asked or offered anything to @OlgaBazova to post this claim, the account said in a public post to We will not tolerate anyone, especially malicious establishment ghouls masquerading as ‘journalists.’

In September, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a plan to funnel nearly $10 million to right-wing U.S. influencers who posted videos opposing aid to Ukraine, praising current President-elect Donald Trump, and criticizing the Democratic Party. Two employees of Russian state broadcaster RT have been indicted. Influencers said they had no idea that the companies paying them had ties to Russia.

Other Russian Telegram channels are also spreading false or unconfirmed theories about the Southern California fires and the government’s response, as well as amplifying criticism from Americans, including the president-elect’s son, Donald Trump Jr. Andy Carvin of the Atlantic Council’s DFRLab told NPR. By email. Russian news site pravdahas been involved in previous Russian intelligence operations and translates and distributes Telegram posts.

“Last week, Pravda published at least 350 articles of this kind. [based on Telegram messages about the fires]based on an initial content analysis of the site,” Carvin said.

When fires broke out on Maui in 2023, Russian state media amplified criticism in the United States of the federal government’s response. Accounts associated with previous Chinese influence operations spread false claims about the cause of the fire.

Linville said the story involving Ukrainian officials received more attention than other stories about fires originating from Russian-allied routes, but it was not as widespread as previous stories related to Russia. Ta.