Russia's Strategic Disinformation Warfare And War Crimes Cover-Up Campaign

Forbes

13 hours ago

[Stock image] Kyiv residents attend the commemorative event for those killed in a Russian airstrike ... More on the Mariupol drama theatre. According to estimates, around 600 civilians were killed as a result of the attack. (Photo credit: Danylo Antoniuk/Anadolu via Getty Images)
In May 2025, Global Rights Compliance and The Reckoning Project, both non-governmental organizations, published a new report revealing unprecedented evidence exposing Russia's systematic weaponization of information during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The report analyzes Russia's use of 'information alibis' - a carefully planned technique involving the pre-emptive dissemination of false information to deflect responsibility for crimes committed. As the report presents on several cases, this disinformation warfare is deployed to conceal international crimes and obscure efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.
The report names top-level figures from Russia's political leadership as key drivers of Russia's pre-emptive disinformation operations, including: President Vladimir Putin, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Presidential administration employees such as Sergei Kiriyenko, Alexei Gromov and Sofia Zakharova.
The report reveals that their efforts are coordinated through a hierarchical network, where state actors actively collude with non-state entities, such as media organizations, government-affiliated NGOs, including the Russian government-affiliated organization 'Dialog,' and social media influencers, to actively disseminate false information ahead of an attack.
Among the examples presented in the report is the case of the Mariupol Territorial Medical Association for Children's and Women's Health Centre, also known as Mariupol Maternity Ward No.3. The ward was struck by a Russian airstrike on March 9, 2022, causing significant destruction and civilian casualties. The strike was also part of a broader pattern of attacks on healthcare facilities, which resulted in approximately 80% of the city's healthcare facilities being critically damaged or destroyed. Ahead of the attack, Russia orchestrated a coordinated disinformation campaign with multiple senior officials, including Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia and Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, falsely claiming the facility was being used by Ukrainian military combatants - and as a result, it lost its protective status and was a legitimate military target of war. However, as explained in the report and supported by analyses from independent investigators (including the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine), the facility was functioning as a hospital at the time, and there was no military target in its vicinity. As such, the attack on Mariupol Maternity Ward No.3 constitutes an indiscriminate attack, a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.
The report further shows the growing role Russian social media channels play in the disinformation warfare: 'Over 100,000 social media pages, along with a vast network of popular Telegram channels have been used to spread false narratives about Ukraine. A key part of this effort involves the work of Russian military bloggers, known as 'voyenkors' or 'Z-bloggers' and estimated to have a global audience of around 10,000,000, who played a fatal role in the attack on the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theatre in Mariupol.' As the attack on the city intensified, the Mariupol Theatre was being used as a shelter accommodating between 1,000 and 2,000 civilians, and a hub for the distribution of food, water, and critical information. There is no evidence to suggest that military personnel were present at the site or in its proximity. At the time of the attack, the number of civilians on the site was being reported as between several hundred and 1,500. At the time of the attack, the word 'ДЕТИ' (meaning children in Russian) was inscribed in large letters outside the building. As such, the attack on the theatre was a violation of international humanitarian law and a war crime.
The new report makes it clear that such information alibis as deployed by Russia, when used to plan, execute or conceal international crimes, can be legitimately restricted under international law. The report makes a clear distinction between protected speech, even if objectionable or inaccurate, and speech that may contribute to the perpetration of international crimes, stressing the importance of recognizing the need for legitimate restrictions to prevent the abuse of freedom of expression in information warfare. The report further offers a blueprint which can now be applied across various investigative contexts and used to pursue charges under the Rome Statute against individuals involved in disseminating information alibis, including senior-ranking Russian officials.
As a crucial part of Russia's war on Ukraine is perpetrated online with a litany of techniques of weaponization of information, including the use of propaganda, disinformation, and misinformation, among others, it is crucial to identify best practices to counter such methods of waging war. This is key to preventing international crimes. This is key to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to account. This is key to establishing the truth about gross human rights violations.