DISINFORMATION

Oil, the Commission's betrayal, and the West's demise at the Olympics. The disinformation scene is working at full speed even in the middle of summer

Infosecurity.sk presents an overview of disinformation trends that have been on the rise in the last two weeks:

• The suspension of the flow of Russian Lukoil oil to Slovakia and Hungary via Ukrainian territory was the subject of lies and misleading. The issue was deliberately dramatised in order to denigrate the European Commission (EC), which allegedly failed to act on the matter because it favoured Ukraine to the detriment of the member states of the EU. According to the disinformers, the EC is supposed to blackmail Slovakia and Hungary because of their anti-war positions.
• The disinformation scene continued to deepen the polarization lines of Slovak society. This time, it mainly used the topic of the Olympic Games. Whether it was the opening of the Games or the appearance of a boxer from Algeria, disinformation agents used the topics to spread false and hateful narratives
• The participation of sexual minorities in the opening ceremony of the Olympics was sold to their audience by the disinformers as salacious proof of Western decadence. They continued with accusations of mocking Christianity and calls for the protection of the so-called traditional family. The rhetoric was again aimed at liberalism or progressivism, and some actors even managed to link the Olympic Games to the glorification of Russia.

Ukraine and the European Commission are allegedly using oil as a tool of blackmail and revenge

The rhetoric of disinformers continues to include attacks on Ukraine and its political leaders, disinformation about the alleged Bandera regime and its atrocities, as well as deliberate downplaying or overlooking of Russian war crimes. Over the past weeks, disinformers have focused in particular on the stoppage of the flow of Russian Lukoil oil to Slovakia and Hungary via Ukrainian territory. They interpreted the situation as a vital threat to the interests of Slovakia, which, thanks to the extension of the exemption for the import of Russian oil, is entitled to obtain crude via the Druzhba pipeline.

Although the situation was portrayed in black and white by the problematic actors, in reality it was not a total disruption of Russian oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary. Although Ukraine banned the transit of Lukoil's oil on its territory at the end of June 2024, Rosneft and Tatneft continue to export oil through the Druzhba pipeline.

Oil from the Croatian-Hungarian Adria pipeline also flows to Slovakia. Moreover, the share of Russian oil processed by Slovnaft is gradually decreasing. After the expiry of the exemption from sanctions, which Slovakia has secured until the end of 2024 for the distribution of Russian crude oil to the Czech Republic and Ukraine, imports of oil from Russian sources should no longer take place. These facts were also pointed out by the EC in a letter addressed to the Slovak government in July.

More recent information also suggests that the flow of oil may have been suspended by Russia itself. It could not have been subject to Ukrainian sanctions, as it technically does not belong to Lukoil, but to its Swiss-based subsidiary Litasco. The information was confirmed by Taras Kachka, Ukraine's deputy economy minister.

Slovak disinformers, however, quickly seized the issue and argued very aggressively against Ukraine. According to Ľuboš Blaha, an MEP from the ruling coalition party SMER-SSD, the latter should have declared economic war on Slovakia. In his Telegram post, he asked, very misleadingly, 'how long are we going to allow the Bandera regime in Ukraine to commit such war crimes' and said that this was an attack on our civilian population. At the same time, Blaha attacked the EU, which allegedly failed to address the situation. He did not mention the fact that it was thanks to its exemption from sanctions that Slovakia has so far been able to reduce its dependence on Russian oil.

It is obvious from Blaha's post that even as an MEP he does not plan to tone down his deceptive and offensive rhetoric. As a solution to the disruption of Lukoil's oil supplies, he suggested that "the European Commission should immediately suspend negotiations with Ukraine on its accession to the EU, stop all military and humanitarian aid, and cut off diplomatic relations with Ukraine - until it resumes oil transit". Blaha did not forget to manipulate his fans about the EU trying to take revenge on Slovakia for the government's "peace" policy and the fact that the state does not send weapons to Ukraine from public funds.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in a Facebook video that the Ukrainian sanctions imposed on Lukoil and its activities would not affect Russia, but would only harm Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. This is a continuation of the disinformation narrative that economic sanctions do not harm Russia, which is being spread in an attempt to glorify the Russian economy and to ridicule the actions of the EU or Ukraine.

The narrative of Slovakia's alleged blackmail by the EC and Ukraine because of the current government's peaceful stance has become a prevailing message in the content of disinformation actors. It was included in the outputs of the disinformation portal InfoVojna (InfoWar). In one of its articles, the latter presented conspiratorial claims that Ukraine was waiting and watching to see whether Fico would be replaced by a pro-war figure or change his mind about the war in Ukraine after the assassination attempt. If this had happened, Ukraine would allegedly not have suspended oil supplies.

In a video post on Facebook, Minister of the Interior Matúš Šutaj Eštok spoke about Ukraine's efforts to blackmail Slovakia and Hungary. He tried to portray Ukraine as ungrateful in the post, as it should have taken this step despite the provision of humanitarian aid after the outbreak of the war and the ongoing aid today. He also added that he refuses "to allow Slovakia and the Slovak people to serve as an instrument of revenge in this war".

Like Fico, Šutaj Eštok stressed the so-called peaceful stance of the government, which refuses to support the conflict by supplying weapons and calls on Russia and Ukraine to negotiate peacefully. He did not comment on the continued sale of weapons and equipment by private companies. However, Milan Uhrík, MEP and leader of the far-right Republika movement, mentioned it in the context of his criticism of the current government. Uhrík argued that blackmail must be rejected. However, he himself proposed as a solution to the situation the reciprocal cessation of the supply of electricity and arms from private companies to Ukraine, which would also constitute an instrument of blackmail.

A similar rhetoric was chosen by Eduard Chmelár, an advisor to Fico and a dubious political analyst. In one of his Facebook posts he said that the way the EC is blackmailing Slovakia and Hungary reminds him of Brezhnev's policy towards Dubček's Prague Spring. The reality, according to Chmelár, shows that "Ukraine can afford practically anything against EU member states". In an earlier post, he also wrote that the EC has betrayed us. In fact, he sided with the Hungarian foreign minister's view that "the whole thing was not made up in Kiev, but in Brussels, and it is not the Ukrainian government, but the European Commission that wants to blackmail two peaceful countries for refusing to supply arms".

Finally, disinformation actors' posts on the subject have often claimed that the EU is not acting on the matter, despite the fact that it is a violation of the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement. For example, Minister of the Environment Tomáš Taraba has said that Ukraine's actions have humiliated UC, which is the laughing stock of the world because of its weak response supposedly. In the post, Taraba derisively adds: "However, the inaction shown by the European Commission sends a message to the world: we are not even able to defend the fulfilment of obligations by the state, which cannot function a day without us, otherwise in other areas, fear us and take us seriously."

In fact, the EC itself came to the preliminary conclusion that urgent consultations under the Association Agreement "do not appear to be justified as there are currently no indications of an imminent risk to security of supply", which it also stated in the aforementioned letter to Slovakia and Hungary.

The fictional decadence of the West and the demonisation of diversity at the Olympic Games

The fight against anything different or unconventional continues from within the disinformation ecosystem. Increasing attacks on progressivism and manipulative references to the so-called value decline of the West have been supported by rhetoric about the Paris Olympics. Disinformation has not only exploited the opening ceremony of the Olympics, but also the participation of the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif.

Slovak National Party's nominee Tomáš Taraba (Minister of Environment) was very active on this topic. In his speech, he described the opening of the Olympic Games as "a disgusting spectacle full of LGBTI ideology and insults to the symbols of Christianity", thus essentially framing the mainstays of the hateful rhetoric of the disinformation ecosystem. Taraba, like other actors, used the topic to build an image of progressivism (or liberalism) as an enemy to the Slovak public. The fact that it is supposed to spread within Western European culture and that it is allegedly a mockery of Christianity was also emphasised by the minister in another post. The disinformation website InfoVojna , in its conspiratorial and highly manipulative analysis of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, described its proceedings as a "celebration of Satanism".

The infamous Igor Bukovský, who has in the past 'distinguished' himself with various charlatan advice and questioning of the Covid-19 pandemic, also spoke out. In the video he essentially joined Taraba's rhetoric and also described the opening of the Olympic Games as ideological or decadent. Milan Uhrík, chairman of the far-right Republika movement, reacted similarly. He tried to portray the so-called decline of the West through a video comparing the opening of the 1992 and 2024 Olympic Games. The MEP associated Paris 2024 with feelings of "degeneration and decline". Anna Belousová, a former MP and unsuccessful candidate in the Euro-elections for the Republika party, in turn saw the opening ceremony as a "pushing of the LGBT agenda".

A significant line in the rhetoric of the disinformation ecosystem was the narrative of the threat to the so-called traditional family. The participation of sexual minorities at the opening of the Olympic Games was also described as "sick and perverse" by the biker gang BRAT za BRATA (Brother for Brother), which makes no secret of its cooperation and good relations with the Russian embassy in Slovakia. On its Facebook page, the gang has long communicated not only pro-Russian narratives, but also narratives about the protection of traditional values and culture. It puts these in opposition to the West (or liberalism), thus further contributing to the artificial polarisation of society. Erik Kaliňák (MEP for SMER-SSD) chose to employ similar rhetoric – in his appearance in a debate on television, he called for the "protection of normality", thus following the example of his party boss Robert Fico, who a few weeks ago at Devín Castle called for the raising of dykes against liberalism and progressivism.

Ondrej Ďurica equated diversity with the dividing of society in his post. A member of the Republika movement, who is close to extremist circles, accused the organisers of the Olympic Games of corrupting children and sport. He presented the situation to his audience as a "perverse celebration of decline" against which the Slovak public must wage a sort of fatal "struggle for values". MEP Milan Mazurek for far-right Republika party also shared the video on his page. Mazurek was also active with his own rhetoric, describing the Olympic Games as a "perverse circus". We take a closer look at the post, which received over 9 thousand interactions, below.

Minister of the Environment Tomáš Taraba was also active in the case of the boxing match between Imane Khelif of Algeria and Angela Carini of Italy. The topic, which has been exploited globally for spreading hatred against sexual minorities, was presented by Taraba in his speech as the result of progressive politics. Supposedly, the latter was to assert that today "it is legal for a man to beat a woman and get a medal for it".

Taraba, as well as other actors of the Slovak disinformation ecosystem, completely ignored the fact that the Algerian boxer was born a woman (and identifies herself as such) and has not undergone any procedure that would lead to a change in her gender during her life. Taraba has also shown the limits of his ability to distinguish between biological sex and gender identity in another post, which we analyze in more detail below.

Eduard Chmelár also used Khelif's participation in the Olympics to spread his own narratives. In his article, he described her as a "male boxer" and the fight as a "fraud" or "violence against a defenceless woman". At the same time, Chmelár tried to present himself as an expert and an authority on the matter – in his opinion, a person with male chromosomes should not participate in women's boxing. He helped himself by the decision of the International Boxing Association (IBA), which banned Khelif from the women's category last year for allegedly failing testosterone tests. The fact that the Olympics does not have this restriction is manipulatively presented by Chmelár as a "perverted ideology corroding the essence of this civilization" or "perverted experiments."

These and other posts are fine but frightening examples of how a complex topic and individual identity can be manipulatively exploited by disinformation actors to spread harmful and hateful messages.

Since posts containing narratives about the Olympic Games in Paris were among the dominant ones in the Slovak information space in the last two weeks, we also looked at them using the CrowdTangle analytical tool. We used it to analyse the most popular posts on Slovak Facebook that contained the keywords "Olympics", "games" or "ceremony". We excluded from the list those posts that did not contain problematic narratives. We then evaluated the posts based on the total number of interactions (the sum of all reactions, comments and shares).

The post with the most interactions on Facebook was published by MEP Milan Mazurek. In a video with clips from the opening ceremony of the Olympics, the member of the far-right Republika party talks about the decadence of France. Mazurek described the presence and performances of transsexuals as an obscenity that he says is "beyond not only common sense, but also all forms of decency and acceptability." According to the MEP, the opening of the Olympic Games in this form avoids the frameworks of a civilised and democratic society. Mazurek used toxic and hateful rhetoric to attack sexual minorities - demonising them and spreading fear of a threat to the so-called traditional family and children. As is his habit, Mazurek also used the label of progressivism, which he said needed to be stopped in Slovakia.

The second post was originally published on the Telegram account of MEP Ľuboš Blaha. It was shared on the official Facebook page of the SMER-SSD party. In the post, Blaha describes the opening of the Olympic Games as "repulsive extreme" and "testimony to the decadence of the Western world". Blaha also presents the participation of boxer Imane Khelif as something "abnormal" – like other disinformers, he ignores the fact that she is a woman and that she has not undergone any body modification. Nevertheless, the MEP describes her as a man who identifies as a woman and "beats up a female athlete in the ring". He goes on to attack so-called Western liberalism, which he pragmatically contrasts with the image of Russia as 'defender of perfectly normal traditional values against the progressive extreme'. Blaha has been trying to cultivate a similar perception of Moscow in Slovakia for a long time. The conflict between so-called Western decadence and traditional values under the protective wings of Russia is one of the stable pillars of Russian propaganda disseminated by the disinformation ecosystem.

The third post was published by Zuzana Plevíková. The MP from the SMER-SSD party, like the rest of the disinformation ecosystem in Slovakia, evaluated the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games as a display of "vulgarity, lack of culture, amorality and worthlessness" or a representation of the "decline of society". She cloaked her rhetoric in a mental shorthand about so-called liberal-progressive perversions, which continues to build up the image of the public enemy. She branded the opening of the Olympics because of the presence of transgender people or drag queens as a devaluation of Christian culture and values, and went on to scaremonger about the inevitable decline or endangerment of Slovak children.

The next post in the list was published by Tomáš Taraba. Minister of the Environment used the aforementioned boxing match between the Algerian Imane Khelif and the Italian Angela Carini, to attack, among other things, the Progressive Slovakia party. He accused the party of promoting "madness", including transgender politics, 72 genders and the beating of women by men. Taraba has long used similar manipulative shortcuts in his rhetoric – simplifying otherwise complex issues to scare his audience.

The last place belongs to Eduard Chmelár's post. In it, the prime minister's adviser criticises the organisers of the Olympic Games for not once sounding a call for peace during the opening ceremony. Chmelár reduced the reasons for the absence of Russian and Belarusian athletes to talk of replacing friendship between nations with a form of "open chauvinism". Despite Chmelár's long-standing efforts to present himself as an expert on geopolitics, in his speech he calls for a halt to the wars during the Olympics. This is either naivety or an attempt to manipulate the audience, which has long been offered false calls for peace between Russia and Ukraine by the prime minister's adviser.

This is only a selection of the content that disinformation actors have produced on the subject of the Olympics in Paris. However, it is not an anomaly; on the contrary, it fits into a mosaic in which the disinformation ecosystem has been playing a significant role in building the dynamic of us vs. them for several years now. Games have been exploited to deepen the lines that have polarised Slovak society for a long time. In particular, proxy themes such as the threat to Christianity or traditional values by the bogeyman of liberalism or progressivism have been used. Toxic rhetoric (in this case against sexual minorities) has thus contributed significantly to the artificial formation of an enemy – a scapegoat – against which the public can direct its hatred in the future.

Project Infosecurity.sk organized by Adapt Institute, which is supported by the Prague office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, continuously monitors the activities of both Slovak and foreign disinformation actors, but focuses mainly on the former. The project activities are built upon daily monitoring of emerging disinformation, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories in the online information space. This approach allows the analysts to identify disinformation posts and narratives that resonated with the public the most, as well as to find out where they originated, and how they spread and evolved on social media. The report takes the form of a bi-weekly summary of arising trends in the spread of malicious information content online. Based on that, Infosecurity.sk can inform the public about emerging and current trends in the field of disinformation, manipulation, and propaganda.