Over the past year, there has been a marked rise in pro-Russian content proliferating on platforms such as Substack and personal blogs, predominantly authored by figures within the UK and Europe.
This surge is characterised not only by the volume and frequency of posts but also by the striking uniformity of their talking points. An in-depth analysis reveals that the narratives, which frequently align closely with Kremlin messaging, have become increasingly pervasive and are often disseminated under the guise of independent analysis or commentary.
A closer examination reveals a pattern that is too consistent to ignore. Multiple blogs, ostensibly independent from one another, are publishing content on an almost daily basis, often repeating near-identical narratives. The focus is usually on blaming NATO for the Ukraine conflict, accusing Ukraine’s leadership of extremism, or portraying the EU as self-destructive. These themes are repeated across platforms, suggesting that these writers are either being fed similar talking points or are consciously replicating Kremlin narratives.
The frequency of posts is another key indicator of coordination or artificial amplification. Producing well-structured, lengthy articles on a daily or near-daily basis would be a challenge for most solo writers. Yet these bloggers manage to maintain this output while following a consistent narrative arc. This is where suspicions arise: the writing itself often shows signs of being AI-generated. The consistent tone, repetitive phrasing, and sometimes awkward syntax are tell-tale signs that language models like ChatGPT are being used to mass-produce content.
The emergence of AI-generated content raises red flags. The sheer volume and the almost formulaic structure of these posts suggest that automated assistance is not just a tool but an integral part of the strategy. This allows these blogs to maintain a relentless pace of publication, pushing the same themes in a seemingly organic way. The result is an overwhelming presence online, creating the illusion of a broad, grassroots movement pushing pro-Russian narratives.
A particularly striking pattern is the choice, for some, to switch to Russian when addressing certain topics. While most content is in English, key articles, especially those framing Ukraine as a Nazi state or directly challenging Western military suppor, appear in Russian. This linguistic shift is not random. It serves to reach both domestic and diaspora Russian-speaking audiences, lending an air of authenticity to the narrative. It also aligns these bloggers more directly with the Kremlin’s domestic propaganda goals.
The big question remains: are these bloggers gullible individuals who truly believe they are offering independent perspectives, or are they knowingly amplifying state-sponsored disinformation?
The uniformity of messaging and frequency of output lean towards the latter. Whether consciously complicit or not, these writers are functioning as force multipliers for disinformation campaigns. By framing their output as independent analysis, they mask the apparent coordination and create an illusion of widespread dissent against Western policies.
The ultimate effect of these coordinated blogging efforts is a distorted information landscape. By flooding the internet with repetitive narratives, they shape perceptions among readers who may not be aware of the origins or motivations behind the content. This technique of saturation is particularly effective because it mirrors grassroots opposition, giving Kremlin narratives a veneer of legitimacy.
This new wave of pro-Russian blogs is not a spontaneous movement. The consistent themes, high output frequency, AI-generated text, and strategic language switching all point to a coordinated effort. Whether motivated by ideology, financial incentives, or direct influence from pro-Kremlin networks, these bloggers are contributing to a broader strategy of information warfare.
Hmmm, is this the new version of phoning it in? Writing genuine content on a frequent basis is not easy, it’s one of the reasons most of us aren’t authors. With AI ‘assistance’ a lot of that burden is lifted but it sounds as though the posters are falling down on their duty of care to actually fact check the work they are producing.
Well either that or as Craig has surmised they actually have a specific bias. I kind of find it amusing that ChatGPT might be a Kremlin troll though.
Much like many or most of the inventions over the ages promoted as beneficial AI has a downside.
Is there an advantage to end-user, public facing AI*? It seems all it creates is word-salad “news” articles, listicles, awful art, crime & confusion all while dumbing us down.
Those selling software to schools to detect the cheating are making bank I suppose.
*Not to be confused with AI in military, industrial, scientific and healthcare use.
Stand back every one – the fake news bollocks is back in the media as they try to control the peace talk narrative,
Like all the anti Trump mince Biden’s mob posted, in a couple of years time we’ll all know it’s a load of old rubbish.
Yup, Trump has turned out far worse than what Biden’s supporters predicted…
OT, read a report today about us forming a “Dad’s Army” Home Guard to defend airports, telecommunications and power hubs.
One wonders what the MoD will have to arm them with. Sticks and stones?
It’s being touted as a civilian organization so bring your own sock and snooker balls.
Sounds like they need to reactive the Home Service Force from the 1980’s. It was a local defence arm of the TA dedicated to guarding key infrastructure nodes.
I remember them. Over 55s allowed If I recall, 5k strong, for guarding KPs.
Traditionally UK based units, regular and TA, were due to do such duties, unless in the process of being moved forward.
During my period in the TA (86 to 93), there was talk of splitting it into a two tier force. One half would have an increased training commitment of the type traditionally associated with Para and RM support rolled units. The other half would have a slightly reduced training commitment and become the ‘Home Defense Force’ and do what they are now calling a ‘Dads Army’ role.
This was all fueled by doubts over the level of competence of some TA units, and the growing threat of Spetsnaz units and saboteurs. With the current situation were the far right is a Russian fifth column and the left wing half of the Labour Party is rife with Islamists and their sympathizers, I think the need for such has grown..
Hi Chris.
Yes, that’s as I remember them.
Back to the old Home Service Force mate, was that what they were called in the 80s? Remember the key point defence guys, old ex lads and nowadays lasses, wonder how they will be formed and trained.
I dread to think. Maybe use volunteers from the regular reserve?
Or some MPGS?
The interesting thing is the summary. Blame NATO, Ukraine is extremist, EU bad. This has been the Farage line for three years now, punctuated by token condemnations of Russia when pressed.
It really does highlight how the whole Reform movement, like the Leave campaign it grew from, is/was just a Russian plot to destabilize the west for more Russian attacks. I see the MAGA crowd as another front in the same moral war on the West.
Total cobblers.
I agreee and Reform \ MAGA have been very active spewing their rhetoric out
And a lot of it is very anti-Ukraine
Spreading fake news and sucking up to russians
Incorrect, but never mind, its the easy option as your most probably a bit scared. Understandable.
Oh dear, just because you are scared lets blame the easy option, such as Reform. Your narrative in itself is quite sad and lacking knowledge.
Scared of what and who ?
A % of reformers are seriously nuts and very dangerous!
As a right-winger myself, no way I would vote for them!
Lacking knowledge… You must be joking!!!🤣🤣
AIRBORNE …I’ve spent the last 3 years, daily fundraising for food, medicine, and weapons for Ukrainian civilians and the soldiers begging from the frontline for help!
In between that I’m daily being trolled by Reform \ MAGA \ russians \ Chinese \ Africans\ oh and NAZI’s (yep you read correct)
The poisonous rhetoric they all spew out is never-ending…
And the private messages they do to intimidate people, and they try and scam you out of ££, and try and get you to react to their abuse
Last night, a “republican \ MAGA” lawyer from Florida started abusing a fellow fundraiser in my group! and the reformers enjoy tagging along
Reporting and blocking him, like many others, soon solves the issue to get them suspended as you only need to look at their profile contents to see their posts and picture and REPORT
The fight against disinformation also never ends…
Being pro-Ukraine sure draws out the weirdos
A % of every party/group or whatever can be classed as nuts! But you do seem to dislike the MAGA lot, great that’s up to you but what most people see about Reform is the fact they at this time seem to be listening to what the people in the UK say. Whether they do in the future that’s another thing. But trolling and disinformation is everywhere, ether from our political classes, possible internal and external threats, it’s something we have to deal with!
This report from our new contributor Craig is the best piece of writing that he’s produced yet.
In the Russian context, the term disinformation “dezinformatsiya” is often used to embrace a number of other concepts: ‘strategic deception’ “strategicheskaya maskirovka” ‘active measures’ “aktivnye meropriyatiya”, information operations, psychological operations, concealment and deniability.
The common factor is the use of various information tools – with some analysts referring to it as the ‘information weapon’ – to convey selective, incomplete, and/or distorted messages – and influence the thinking of an adversary
As a NAFO fella, every day I’m constantly fighting against these Russians, Chinese, and African FAKE AI-generated content and FAKE human profiles and blogs !
They pose as fundraisers, stealing £££, and they infiltrate and spread disinformation…
Luckily, we have the VU aka Verification Unit, and we have the ScamBustersHQ to help weed them out!
Having spotted AI-generated content, as an aid to analysis it would be useful to be able to derive from it the original input that was used to generate it. Unfortunately, I think these generative AI processes are effectively one-way functions by virtue of how they work. For ChatGPT, OpenAI will no doubt have the original inputs in the relevant log files, but I don’t suppose they’d be keen to publish them.
It would actually help make the Uk a bit more resilient to political warfare if our political classes simply practiced honesty. Classic example is that tape of the shadow Home Secretary that’s been leaked in which he explains why the Brexit agreement was a disaster in regards to small boot crossings, and why the Uk government post Brexit is fining it impossible to manage. Because 50% of people crossing on small boats had already claimed asylum in an EU county and that when we were in the Dublin agreement they could simply send them back to the first EU country they claimed asylum..post loss of the Dublin agreement we could not. This level of dishonest dialogue ( omission of truth) is what provides the food to the Russian and Chinese political warfare operations.
Isnt it the same with Badenoch jumping up and down today about an extension of a fishery deal, which it turn out was first done by Boris
Indeed, fishermen today are no worse off than they were under the brexiteer in chief.
But we all know that no matter what was in the deal the Tories and Refore would try to persuade us it was bad.
For Reform it’s all they have and for the Tories they are terrified of losing votes to Reform.
Today’s desk is not hugely inspiring but it is a step in the right direction on food and drink exports, defence and movement. But nothing to get too excited about.
It’s disappointing that we can’t just put defence and security on one side and just agree to full cooperation on that; then negotiate the other stuff.
The issue with the illegal boat migrants (yes they are illegal even according to the UN 1951 convention text) is that the Schengen zone has been a disaster of epic proportions for Europe and especially the UK. It allows illegal migrants to cross the full extent of Europe without having proper borders in place to stop their movement. The Europeans (and I don’t blame them) are using the UK as a dumping ground for all the undesirables and criminals that are crossing Europe from both the second and third world. I would admit that the disastrous wars instigated by Blair and Cameron were in part to blame as well but the Europeans haven’t helped with this Schengen zone nonsense. Ironically is the political left that wanted these wars as both Blair and Cameron are identikit left wing politicians. I think the only long term solution is recognizing that an asylum system based upon the 20th century is fundamentally broken and no longer fit for the new world of the 21st century where there are 100,000,000 war displaced people around the world. I would add that the Human Rights Act (NRA) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) are not longer fit for purpose as well as the 1951 UN refugee convention. These acts have been subverted by activist left wing lawyers and judges against the will of the majority of the British population with often perverse judgements and decisions. We did not need these acts anyway as we have the Magna Carta and the 1689 Bill of Rights which was more than sufficient to protect our freedoms. This is a form of left wing lawfare that originated in the culture wars of the US that has been imported to the UK. We have seen time and time again the rights of foreign born criminals and illegals are placed above that of the law abiding native (indigenous) population of England (yes we do have an indigenous population in the UK and no we are not a bunch of immigrants as the left would have us believe until 1965 when the wheels came off migration). The only option for the UK is to remove itself from the domestic HRA and the two international treaties and return our laws back to a pre-1997 state (I support the so called Great Repeal Act which removes the malign influence of the Blair government that continues to hold sway in the UK). We simply cannot absorb the numbers coming into the UK from my legal and illegal routes and anyone thinking the current state of affairs is either fair or sustainable is a deluded fool. This awful Labour government will have will have to accept political realities of life at the next election (as have the Tories now in fourth place in the polls) when they will be voted out and I’m willing to bet my house of that as well. I can well see the Labour party getting less than 100 seats at the next election and that will be a reward for the willful contempt that they hold for most of the UK population. They govern for the left and not for the majority and this is the reason they will lose the next election by a landslide.
It’s looking suspiciously like the attacks on starmers property were by a group of Russian speaking Easter Europeans. We know essentially Russia is now openly recruiting saboteurs to operate in the UK. It’s only a matter of time before the UK steps up active political warfare against Russia..
Russian disinformation that is the least of our worries when we have our own version of Pravda called the BBC..plus our own Liebour government led by Comrade Kier and his band of merry Trotskyists…