In a recently published journal article, James Pamment discusses some of the tactics the Kremlin used to circumvent the EU’s 2022 state media sanctions. The study finds that while the initial “fog of information war” significantly disrupted the Kremlin’s ability to reach European audiences, alternative routes took around three weeks to establish. Particularly effective was a retooling of official government and diplomatic social media accounts, which were able to quickly and efficiently replace state media accounts in the Kremlin’s social media ecosystem. The research was part of a real-time effort to map implementation of the EU state media sanctions on behalf of the EU Commission, in collaboration with RESET and several European civil society actors.
Impact by EU sanctions on Russia state media
A study has recently been published on how the Kremlin circumvented EU sanctions on Russian state media in the first weeks of the illegal invasion of Ukraine.