Can Russia still win the information war? Public opinion in the West was quick to swing solidly against Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, with even the fringes of the far right and far left here muting their admiration of Moscow's strongman, but that doesn't mean Moscow's spin machine has gone quiet.
While outlets like Russian broadcaster RT may now be blocked in places like France, Germany and the US, years of eroded trust in the so-called mainstream media mean that receptive audiences have long since defected to alternative news sources. That spin machine stunned the likes of France when, for instance, an under-embargo junta in Mali managed to turn public opinion against the French – despite them fighting jihadists – and in favour of the Russian mercenaries of Wagner. Those mercenaries are now reportedly headed to Ukraine.
And while the international community flags Wagner's track record of human rights abuses in Syria and the Central African Republic, many West Africans shrug off the evidence, as well as Mali's spike in massacres of civilians on the group's watch. What is it about Moscow's narrative that's still so effective in many parts of the globe?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Léopoldine Iribarren, Elise Marné and Morgane Minair.
