"How long will the deep state blame Russia?", "Bucha False Flag Exposed" and "they are actors" about the victims in Butja.
There are some quotes that were spread in several Facebook groups and Telegram channels, which during the pandemic spread anti-vaccine messages.
Åsa Larsson is a journalist at the fact-checking initiative Källkritikbyrån and she noticed early after the invasion that Russian propaganda began to be divided into groups:
- They absorb quite a few different conspiracy theories about everything possible.
This was done long before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now all the way into the war.
Alternative media, especially within the far right and alternative medicine, have followed a similar path, something that Expo has previously reported on.
Adapts its message
Hannah Pollack Sarnecki is a researcher at the Swedish Defense Research Agency and she has looked at how these media have reacted to the war.
The purpose of the pandemic has for some actors been to spread concerns about vaccines and question the legitimacy of liberal democracy, she says.
This continues to be done in connection with the war.
- We know that this type of group has also historically been good at adapting its messages to prevailing social events.
Although there is a strong bias towards Russian propaganda, she emphasizes that there are nuances and different approaches in these environments.
Some also link the war to the pandemic.
"The same global power elite that was supposed to stage the pandemic is now staging the war in Ukraine to distract people from the plan that the global power elite claims to have to establish a world domination," says Hannah Pollack Sarnecki.
In connection with the vaccination during the pandemic, Russia and state-controlled media spread misinformation about several vaccines.
Something that can explain where many in these environments get their information from.
- Statements that come from the top management in Russia are discussed as truths in these groups, says Åsa Larsson.