On RIA-Novosti, a Russian propaganda media sanctioned by the EU, editorial commentary and opinion pieces frequently include blatant propaganda. To illustrate propaganda pieces with images that capture attention and depict Ukrainians and Europeans in a negative light, Russia’s RIA uses AI technology, thus enhancing its hybrid and disinformation warfare.
Russian propaganda production has become faster and cheaper. AI-generated pictures are used by the Russian state-run news agency to try to persuade Russians that “the Motherland is surrounded by many adversaries, that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is legitimate, and that the Russian people have a bright future ahead of them.”
To illustrate the claims, the Russian news websites leverage propaganda-style images from AI-generated rats to stock photographs, as the analysis by Truthmeter has found. This Russian media do mention that the pictures are AI-generated.
Pro-Kremlin mouthpiece Petr Akopov swiftly deleted one of these columns when it prematurely celebrated Russia’s victory in Ukraine in February 2022. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220226051154/https:/ria.ru/20220226/rossiya-1775162336.html]
Timofey Sergeytsev, another figure with ties to the Kremlin, advocated for the eradication of Ukrainian national identity and the dismantling of Ukraine as a state in another text. [https://archive.is/2Ce19] The first victims of the Bucha massacre committed by Russian occupation troops were found the same day it was published in April 2022.
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RIA-Novosti used basic stock photographs to illustrate these two sentences. The toxicity and hostility were expressed through words rather than pictures.
This changed when RIA began using AI apps to generate photos in April 2024. Since then, it has been using pictures of rats, mice, hyenas, pigs, and clowns more frequently to illustrate pieces on Ukraine.
The propaganda outlet’s AI-generated visuals depict the EU as a group of monkeys, a sinking ship, a dying patient, people who are freezing and famished, and skeletons riding a burning tank.
The visuals portray the UK as a fat man wearing a top hat, selling tanks, while the US is portrayed as a cunning Uncle Sam, chopping up Ukraine like a cake. They depict the Reichstag building invaded by zombies, Big Ben crumbling, and New York on fire.
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Pictures of Ukraine or its supporters always feature lightning and heavy clouds in the sky. But the sun always shines, and joyful, attractive people stroll over golden fields toward a bright future when columnists write about Russia. However, the hateful photos greatly outnumber the “positive” ones.
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AI-generated propaganda images are cheap and simple toxicity that grabs attention, convinces, and fuels emotions. This prominent pro-Kremlin source can now more quickly and affordably visualize the poison of its writers’ words to increase the emotional effect of their hate speech thanks to generative AI.
RIA is a member of the Rossiya Segodnya media conglomerate, which has grown to be one of the major forces in Russia thanks to significant funding from the Russian state budget.
Since February 2022, RIA-Novosti has radicalized its editorial line and content, departing greatly from being a standard reporting wire agency. The increased usage of harmful AI imagery is simply the most recent instance of RIA functioning more like a war ministry’s propaganda division than a journalistic outlet.
The AI-generated graphics on the platform are used to incite hatred toward Ukrainians, the European Union and its member states, and other nations that back Ukraine.
The operations of foreign influence often merge several Russian propaganda media outlets. Since RT and Sputnik are affiliated, RT frequently translates and posts RIA-Novosti’s columns and the generated graphics in many languages on its websites. Later, these articles are usually quoted by pro-Russian outlets in Europe.
Other components of the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem likewise reuse the language and visuals. In the past, genocidal governments frequently attempted to dehumanize other ethnic groups or individuals by portraying them as rodents throughout the 20th century. The story repeats itself with Russia’s war against Ukraine. With the old strategy and the use of new AI technology, Russian war propaganda sources such as Ria-Novosti bring war propaganda to a new level.
