For the past six months, Russia has been waging an information war alongside its military campaign. How Moscow Changed the Internet’s Route On May 30 the Internet connection in occupied Kherson stopped. It returned within hours, but people could no longer access sites like Facebook, Twitter and Ukraine news. The Internet had moved to Russia. Their online activity in Kherson was now visible to Moscow and subject to censorship. Internet traffic in Kherson was initially routed from network hubs in other parts of the country and passed through Kyiv.
These connections remained in place during the first three months of the invasion before it was rerouted.
As Russia strengthened its grip on southern Ukraine, there were reports that it was taking control of local internet providers in Kherson – either through cooperation or by force.
Once verified, Russia could reroute the Internet to Moscow through a state-owned Internet provider in Crimea.
This happened briefly on May 1, before Ukrainian officials were able to reverse it. But on May 30, with Russia now in control of more infrastructure, it happened again. Now it seems permanent.
As Kherson residents are now forced to use the Russian internet if they want to go online, they are subject to Moscow’s censorship. For three months they could not access Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. Some Ukrainian news sites are also blocked. Alp Toker, director of Netblocks, an Internet monitoring company, says the rerouting has effectively put Ukrainian citizens under the jurisdiction and surveillance of the Russian state in the first instance. Internet providers and monitors report that Internet access in large areas of Kherson is censored at a level similar to that of Russia. Some smaller regions face even tougher censorship, with some Google services blocked. Ukrainians in Kherson are finding ways to evade Russia’s efforts to monitor and censor their online activity. When Ivanna (not her real name) leaves her home, she deletes social media and messaging apps like Instagram and Telegram in case she’s stopped by a soldier who might search her phone. “You have to be careful,” he tells Sky News, using an online messaging app. Image: Ivana deletes apps like Telegram from her phone when she leaves home It goes online using a VPN (virtual private network) which hides the user’s location and allows them to bypass Russian censorship. Searches for the software increased in Kherson when Internet controls were tightened. Figure: Searches for ‘VPN’ increased in June and July Russia has also shut down the mobile phone network in Kherson and new SIM cards are being sold for use by locals. Ivanna told Sky News that a passport is required to buy the sim cards, sparking fears their use could be traced. Wary, she paid a stranger to buy a SIM with his name on it. Targeted television and telephone communications In the non-occupied parts of Ukraine, Moscow tried to destroy the communication infrastructure – such as TV towers and communication centers. It’s a tactic Russia initially wanted to avoid because it didn’t want to damage resources that would be useful as an occupying power, explains William Alberque, director of strategy, technology and arms control at the Institute for Strategic Studies. “Russia thought they would win so quickly [so wouldn’t] destroy the infrastructure as it was going to own that infrastructure,” he tells Sky News. Subscribe to Ukraine War Diaries on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Spreaker But by keeping the lines open, Ukrainians were able to communicate with each other and with the wider world. Eventually Russia moved to destroy what it could not grasp quickly. Examples of attacks on communications infrastructure have been documented by the Center for Information Resilience, which monitors and verifies attacks like these using open source information. One incident recorded by the group was a communications center in southern Ukraine. Russia’s attempt to control information has also included targeting television towers. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 1:08 The TV tower in Kiev was hit by a missile The blackouts in Ukraine also caused a loss of connectivity at the country’s major broadband and mobile internet providers. Disinformation has doubled since the start of the war Russia used disinformation during the war to influence those in Ukraine, the country’s allies, as well as its own population at home. Examples of pro-Russian fake news include a clumsily faked video of the Ukrainian president telling people to surrender (known as a deepfake video) and social media posts accusing bomb victims of being actors. Image: A fake video of Zelenskyy, where his head was clearly too big for his body, was shared online Some of Russia’s efforts have been effective. Moscow claimed the invasion was in part to counter Nazism in the Ukrainian government. Searches for “Nazis” both in Russia and worldwide soared in the first week of the war. Image: Searches for the word ‘Nazi’ in Russia surged during the invasion Image: Searches for the term ‘Nazi’ also surged around the world at the time of the invasion The number of disinformation websites has more than doubled since the Russian invasion in February, according to Newsguard, which provides credibility scores for news and information websites. In March, its researchers found 116 websites publishing disinformation about the Russia-Ukraine war. By August, that number had risen to 250. Image: RT, an international news television network controlled by the Russian state, was one of the sites identified by Newsguard. Photo: RT It is not possible to show that all of these sites operate at the behest of Russia, however, Moscow has provided an enhanced pot of funds for its propaganda arm. The independent Russian-language news website The Moscow Times reported that the government “drastically increased funding for state media amid the war with Ukraine.” The article cited data provided by the Russian government. It said 17.4 billion rubles (£244m) had been set aside for “mass media” compared with 5.4 billion rubles (£76m) the previous year. It said that in March, when the war was under way, around 11.9 billion rubles (£167 million) had been spent. This is more than double the combined spend of the two months before, which was 5bn rubles (£70m). The investigation comes as no surprise to Mr Alberque, who says Russia’s disinformation campaign has been “continuous”. “As they go into a state of war, [Russia] she needs to go to direct pay and no longer hope that people will retweet her messages, but pay them to send a certain number of messages a day,” she told Sky News. Looking ahead, Mr Alberque believes the death of the daughter of a Vladimir Putin ally will distract those directing Russia’s disinformation efforts. Image: Darya Dugina with her father and Putin ally Alexander Dugin. Photo: Twitter Russia has pointed the finger at Ukraine for carrying out the fatal car bombing in Moscow, but Kyiv denies any involvement. An apparent high-profile assassination in the capital has sparked a number of conspiracy theories, including claims that a Russian group seeking to influence the war may be responsible. “The Russian government should try to control this narrative,” Mr. Alberque explains. He adds that propaganda resources that would have been focused on Ukraine may now be drawn from the aftermath of the death, saying: “I think it’s going to be a huge information sink for them because it’s going to take time and attention.” The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to delivering transparent journalism from Sky News. We collect, analyze and visualize data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite imagery, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling we aim to better explain the world while showing how our journalism is done. Why data journalism matters to Sky News