When tragedy becomes a tool
On July 31, a real humanitarian crisis unfolded in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta: in a single day, at least 49,000 people illegally entered the city – more than half of its population. Some died during the crossing, tens of thousands are attempting to return through Spain's Ministry of Interior in cooperation with Morocco. This is a real event with real casualties.
But while Spanish authorities count people and bodies, Russian propaganda networks are already counting publications. Acting Foreign Minister of Ukraine Andriy Sybiga wrote on X that the networks "Pravda" and RT distributed the Ceuta topic in at least 1,500 materials – the Spanish version of "Pravda" alone published nearly 300 articles, with each language version of RT producing over 25.
A mechanism without fabrication
This is not a case where the Kremlin invents a non-existent event. It's simpler: they take a real crisis that already destabilizes public opinion in Europe and amplify it with the desired messaging through a network of sites disguised as local independent media. According to Sybiga, the goal is not to inform, but to destabilize Europe by exploiting any topic that benefits Russia.
Technically, it works simply: a site looks like a regional publication, publishes ostensibly neutral material about migrants, and algorithms from social networks and search engines distribute it as organic content – without marking it as "sponsored by the Kremlin".
A ban that lags behind
The EU banned RT broadcasts in early July – including free channels. But the "Pravda" network with its dozens of language versions and hundreds of mirror sites continues operating, because technically it is not RT, but supposedly separate local media outlets. Sybiga insists on a complete ban of all Russian propaganda resources, but proving the affiliation of each site to a single network is legally a slower process than the speed at which new mirrors are created.
The question for the coming months: will Europe find a way to block not individual brands like RT, but the very infrastructure of duplicate networks – or will the Kremlin continue to use every crisis, from migration to energy, as ready-made material for its copycat sites?
