Following our research on which websites are spreading pro-Russian narratives in Germany and France, we analyzed the media landscape in Belgium. We’ve identified publications that quoted Russian state media and spread claims that support Kremlin propaganda in Europe.
Semantic research, content analysis, and exploration of links between the websites helped us identify Belgian news sites linked by similar topics, pro-Russian narratives, and mutual links. We have included a list of examples, along with their respective sources, below.
Belgium’s media landscape overview shows that there are just a few websites with pro-Kremlin ‘editorial policy’, and that they cover only a tiny audience (see data below). Another notable fact is that there is a significant Russian-speaking audience in Belgium who reads Kremlin-funded propaganda news website Lenta.ru, according to the SimilarWeb data.
Unlike pro-Russian outlets in Germany and France, pro-Russian websites in Belgium do not seem to be affiliated with the far-right and provide rather negative coverage to ring-wing political parties.
Also, in the content analysis, we have identified key pro-Kremlin storylines targeting the Belgian audience. Therefore, the key narratives are the following:
- ‘Ukraine and its Western allies have lost’
- ‘The West (particularly the US and NATO) are to blame for the war’
- ‘Ukrainians are nazis and drug addicts’
- ‘Russian nuclear blackmail’
- ‘Stop providing aid to Ukraine’
Narrative 1: ‘The West (particularly the US and NATO) are to blame for the war’
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian propaganda machine has been blaming Ukraine, Western countries, NATO, and the EU for the war. Moscow claims that it felt threatened by Ukraine, that it came to protect the people of Donbas, and that NATO’s eastward expansion is to blame. This way, Russia is trying to justify its invasion and shift the blame for the war to the West.
“Colonization of Ukraine in full swing. Gradually but surely, the sell-off of Ukraine continues. Anyone who thinks that financial support and arms deliveries are simply offered out of pure kindness should think again. We note that farmers in Europe’s poorest country, Ukraine, do not have money to buy the land that they recently cultivated and owned collectively or individually (inherited from Soviet Ukraine and the USSR). Ukrainians are now dying in a war for the control/defense of lands that are now being bought up by major agricultural interests in the west.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/kolonisering-van-oekraine-in-volle-gang/)
“Evgenia Bilchenko also first supported the Anti-terrorist Operation (ATO) as the new [Ukrainian] government called the military operation against the population in the east. However, during her visit to that region (Donbass) in 2015, she realized that there was a threat of genocide that was being ignored by the “international community”…She called Ukraine an American colony. That did not go down well. The bullying became too much for her and in 2021 she emigrated to Russia”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/onder-de-oekraiense-regenboog/)
“Nicolai Lilin is an Italian writer of Russian descent: According to our media, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was on February 22, 2022 “ unprovoked ”, which, so to speak, came completely out of the blue. In reality, Ukraine’s strength-building had been going on for years, even long before the 2014 coup.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/groot-brittannie-en-oekraine-een-langdurige-romance/)
“In this camp, Ukraine is not asked for an opinion, nor does it have a decisive vote. Ukraine’s role is only to fight Russia on behalf of its Western allies.”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/05/17/hoe-gevaarlijk-is-de-dreiging-met-russische-tactische-kernwapens/)
“There is a different response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine ‘perfectly defensible’ . Because: “Ukraine was attacked without any provocation or military threat…”
“A consistent ingredient of these mainstream opinions is that they completely ignore history and context. They have that in common with the media in which they publish. Before February 24, 2022 and October 7, 2023 there was only blue sky and sunshine, peace and love, until suddenly, like a bolt from the blue, and so on…”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/05/26/geen-enkel-volk-heeft-ooit-kolonisatie-getolereerd/)
“The hybrid, indirect proxy war that the US and NATO have organized and waged against Russia in Ukraine since 2014 is a clear failure, impossible to disguise.”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/03/20/van-indirecte-naar-directe-oorlog-tegen-rusland/)
“To underline the point, every US opponent is branded a new Hitler – Saddam Hussein , Bashar al-Assad , Vladimir Putin , Xi Jinping , etc. – so any negotiation would be in vain… And when Russia and Ukraine negotiated directly in March 2022, the UK and US stepped in to broker an agreement based on Ukrainian neutrality to block.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/de-urgentie-van-diplomatie)
“It is often said that Russia does not want to negotiate or cannot be trusted. However, as long as no initiative is taken to do so, this will be difficult to verify. In contrast, the diplomatic reluctance on the part of the US and the European NATO allies is less publicized.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/miljardensteun-aan-oekraine-verdwijnt-bodemloze-oorlogsput)
“Since 2014, NATO has increasingly used a confrontational policy with Russia and China to legitimize its own rearmament.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/basisinfo/navo)
“Before the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s arms industry floundered along, as did military conscription, but once the Kremlin realized it had no peace partners in the West or in Ukraine – a revelation that dawned on Moscow when then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson spring of 2022 sabotaged the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine – things changed.
We recently learned that since 2014, when Ukraine was in Vice President Biden’s portfolio, the CIA had ramped up its operations in Ukraine, making that nation essentially the largest CIA project in the agency’s history, rife with bases and bunkers.
This news appeared in the New York Times at a time when it had become clear that the West’s entire military project in Ukraine had failed. (Soon after the Times bragged about all those CIA bases on the Russia-Ukraine border, Russia used its artillery to liquidate one of them, killing who knows how many Americans.)”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/het-kwaad-van-een-permanente-oorlogseconomie)
“Ukraine has joined North Korea, Vietnam, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Haiti, Libya, Syria, Yemen and now Gaza as yet another shattered monument of America’s military madness.
Instead, the US and NATO chose to prolong and escalate the war in an effort to defeat and weaken Russia. These US and NATO forces are most certainly “waging war in Ukraine.“”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/tuimelen-we-wereldoorlog-iii)
“NATO leaders have always denied that the expansion of the transatlantic alliance played a role, consistently referring to “unprovoked” Russian aggression. It is clear that this is an aggression, but it is not the case that NATO did not play a role in provoking it.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/klopt-het-dat-rusland-een-tweede-front-dreigt-te-openen)
“The Russian invasion was the result of NATO’s policy of surrounding Russia with military bases in order to launch a devastating attack on Russia. In 2014, an elected pro-Russian government in Ukraine was overthrown in a coup by NATO-backed neo-Nazis. They introduced legislation that prohibited the Russian population of Ukraine from using their own language and culture.”
- (https://iisr.nl/news/nederland-palestina-en-oekraine/)
“We see that the far right is turning against the war in Ukraine and in general against wars with Russia and China. This is not because of peaceful motives, but because of the realization that these types of wars cannot be won by the West and will only lead to misery for its own population. Nationalism and xenophobia are combined with social policies for their own population.”
- (https://iisr.nl/news/analyse-van-de-verkiezingen-van-2023/)
“What we see is a war between the government of Ukraine and that of Russia, but that is partly an illusion. What is really going on here is a war between the US, with NATO support, and Russia. A war that has been waged for years through third parties, such as in Syria, but has now become open and exposed. With all the associated risks.”
- (https://willyvandamme.wordpress.com/2022/03/19/een-jemeniet-is-geen-oekraner/)
“The secret pact of Ukraine and the CIA against Putin and it raises many questions about its veracity. First of all, it is clear that this article is 99% based on what the CIA told those journalists. And then every sensible and critical journalist asks himself what is true and what is a lie or fantasy.”
- (https://willyvandamme.wordpress.com/2024/02/29/de-cia-the-new-york-times-de-morgen-en-oekrane/)
Narrative 2: ‘Ukraine and its allies have lost’
According to basic principles of war propaganda, the Kremlin media claim that Russian troops have suffered almost no losses, while the Ukrainian army is suffering high casualties. The Kremlin media presents any Russian advance, even the capture of a village at the cost of several hundred soldiers, as a great achievement. Instead, the Russians downplay their own losses. The goal is to instill fear and force concessions to Putin’s demands.
“The meeting of national security advisors on the Ukrainian “peace formula” in Davos without the participation of Russia has become just a place of much blah blah without concrete progress towards the stated goal: peace.
Russia was not invited once to the three previous conferences. How can a peace agreement be reached if one, if not the most important, protagonist is not allowed to participate in the negotiations?”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/een-schaamlapje-genaamd-vrede/)
“If the prospects become worse day by day, the people will become unfaithful to their leader. Zelensky’s empire will also come to an end. And that will be started from within. In the meantime, people are stealing as if the last days have arrived.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/broederstrijd-begint/)
“What we have seen [the Ukrainian counteroffensive] are rapid attacks by small groups with Western armor in very different places over a front of more than 1000 km, short incursions into Russian border villages that have no military but a terrorist objective.
The attackers did not get further than the no man’s land and therefore not even to the first of the three Russian lines. The word “counteroffensive” here does not have a military but only a political (satisfaction for the Western sponsors) and a medial meaning (symbolic conquests to show to the Western media).”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/wat-hebben-wij-verkeerd-gedaan/)
“US aid does not help Ukraine at all, nor should it… The only alternative would be to “let Putin win.””
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/04/23/vs-steun-helpt-oekraine-geen-meter-vooruit-dat-is-ook-niet-de-bedoeling/)
“How the West led Ukraine to defeat.
Centuries of Western domination have led to arrogance and prevented us from understanding the way our opponent thinks. This led Ukraine to completely underestimate Russia’s capabilities.”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/04/12/hoe-het-westen-oekraine-naar-de-nederlaag-leidde/)
“It has barely been noticed by the mainstream media, but the partnership between Russia and China is stronger than ever and will likely shape the world for decades to come.”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/05/23/het-partnerschap-dat-de-wereld-mee-zal-vormgeven/)
Narrative 3: ‘Ukrainians are nazis and drug addicts’
The Kremlin media used traditional ‘Nazi’ disinformation to discredit all Ukrainians and justify Putin’s war of aggression; pro-Russian propagandists also demonized the Ukrainian military and government, labeling them as “drug addicts” to influence western support of Ukraine. In this way, Russian propaganda also diverts attention from the fact that it was the Putin regime that started the aggressive and neocolonial war against a sovereign state, in violation of international law.
“By early March 2022, Russian troops had already… crystal meth labs found in the shelters of the Azov Battalion near Mariupol… It is the drug of the jihadists. But the drug is also used in Ukraine.
President Zelensky is an enthusiastic supporter of drugs. According to fact checkers, it would be false that he himself uses cocaine, but many Ukrainian insiders from the media world confirm this. “Slava Ukraini” (glory to Ukraine) is the slogan, but it is sometimes derisively described as “Slava Kokaini” /reference to the cocaine/.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/het-nieuwe-geneesmiddel-voor-oekraiense-militairen/)
“The Maidan uprising of 2014, the war in the Donbass, the sabotage of the Minsk agreements, Zelensky’s image building, his neoliberal policies in favor of the oligarchs, the elimination of the opposition, the influence of the Azov Brigade and other neo-Nazi militias, the prevention from the West of a peace agreement, the US geopolitical strategy through NATO, the interests of the American arms industry: all these are elements that hardly participate in the dominant narrative, but about which we get a clear and telling picture in this book.
Let us take the war in the Donbass, where the war – which the media invariably starts on February 24, 2022 – started in 2014. Not by Russia, but by the government in Kiev, which came to power after ousting the democratically elected President Yanukovych, who refused to sign an association agreement with the EU. His flight was a result of an provoked massacre on Maidan Square on February 20, 2014.
He [Zelensky] has been pushed back both by neo-Nazis who can no longer be ignored and by his bosses in Washington, just as in March-April 2023, when a Putin-Zelensky agreement became a possibility, it was made clear by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that the West wanted war.
And there is more. The Theater of Mariupol? The corpses in the streets of Butcha? The massacre in and around Kramatorsk station? Time and again, an emotional wave of indignation, which fuels the image of the enemy and prepares public opinion for new arms deliveries.
Ukraine is bleeding to death for American geopolitical and economic interests. What the country needs is peace, and therefore the replacement of sabre-rattling with negotiations.”
- (https://www.dewereldmorgen.be/artikel/2024/03/18/mediamythe-en-realiteit-oekraine-een-oorlog-in-beelden/)
“A government with a lot of Nazi influence then introduced legislation that prohibited the Russian population of Ukraine from using their own language and culture. That government started to militarily attack the regions in the Donbas. Between 2014 and 2021, 14,000 people were murdered in the Donbas region, but the West remained silent about this genocide. Crimea’s predominantly Russian population voted in a referendum in 2014 to join Russia.
When Zelensky came to power, he wanted to make Ukraine a member of NATO and launch a military campaign to retake Crimea, using nuclear weapons if necessary. That is the background to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began in February this year. It was intended to end the genocide in the Donbas, prevent a nuclear attack on Russia and break the Nazi power.”
- (https://iisr.nl/news/nederland-uit-de-navo-stop-alle-economische-boycot/)
“The recent departure of Victoria Nuland from the Foreign Office as number three and responsible for the Ukraine file is therefore important. It was she who shaped policy and orchestrated the 2014 coup in Kiev. It was she who set the outlines of Ukrainian policy and appointed Victor Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister, a full-blooded fascist.
Arsenyi Yatsenyuk greeting a fascist demonstration here during the so-called Maidan uprising. Victoria Nuland’s choice for the Ukrainian premiership.”
- (https://willyvandamme.wordpress.com/2024/03/15/paniek-bij-macron-en-de-eu/)
Narrative 4: ‘Russia’s Nuclear blackmail’
When the Russian leadership sees that the democratic world stands with Ukraine and respects international law, the last argument is the threat of nuclear weapons. Russian officials speak out, and pro-Russian media instill fear in Europe.
“It is rightly noted that sending NATO troops to Ukraine would accelerate us towards a third world war – probably a nuclear war. The continued rhetoric of war is intended to spread a culture of fear.
The international network ‘No to War – No to NATO’ (of which Vrede vzw is a member) calls on our politicians to put an end to the spiral of violence and militarization of our society.
We call on the people, trade unions and other social and civil society organizations to take action: to prevent Europe from falling completely under the control of militarism and the forces of war.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/stop-de-oorlogsverklaringen-het-tijd-voor-diplomatie)
“The biggest danger is that Kiev could threaten Moscow’s hold on Crimea – home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet for almost three centuries. As one Russian general put it regarding the likelihood of Russia reaching for its nuclear arsenal: When Crimea is threatened, anything is possible.”
- (https://vrede.be/nl/nieuws/hoog-tijd-voor-een-staakt-het-vuren-en-onderhandelingen-oekraine)
Narrative 5: ‘Stop providing aid to Ukraine’
Pro-Russian media claim that Ukraine is a corrupt state and the West should stop supporting Kyiv and abandon sanctions against Russia. These are the main goals of the Putin regime: to make Ukraine defenseless under the Russian invading troops’ assaults.
“Macron believes that it can gradually stop: the “humiliation” of Russia must remain within limits.
It will not surprise anyone that Ukraine costs a lot of money. Even without war, the country is a bottomless pit. With a top layer of oligarchs, of which Zelensky is also a part.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/make-ukraine-great-again/)
“ You don’t earn it back. … We are heading straight for an energy crisis…”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/doe-het-niet/)
“The Polish general stressed that “Western aid is becoming meaningless” because Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has failed to combat corruption among army troops and officials.
The problem of combating corruption in Ukraine is very acute.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/oekraiens-straatje-zonder-eind/)
“The Pentagon’s General Inspectorate announced that military aid worth $1 billion appears to have disappeared somewhere in obscure Ukraine. Stolen, blacked out, sold on the black market? Who knows? This was announced by several news sources. Regardless of any government, Ukraine appears to be unable to lose its reputation as the most corrupt state.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/1-miljard-dollar-militaire-hulp-verdwenen-in-oekraine/)
“According to a study by the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft (IW), the financial consequences would be enormous: 17% of the total EU budget would flow to Ukraine, or in other words: every 6th euro would be paid to Kiev. In concrete terms: at best 130 billion euros, at worst 190 billion euros. And this to a country that is internationally notorious for its ubiquitous corruption.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/wat-als-oekraine-lid-wordt-van-de-eu/)
“The sanctions against Russia have proven to be a farce, with damaging consequences for European economies, continued (but never mentioned) Western energy imports from Russia, a major recovery in Russian GDP growth since early 2022 and a massive Russian import substitution program aimed at on long-term self-sufficiency in goods and services previously purchased from the West.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/hypocrisie-van-de-sancties-in-het-westen/)
We have also spotted a list of other disinformation campaigns, often linked to conspiracy theories. We share some quotes here below as examples of the bias of these websites.
“WHO wants destruction of non-existent bio-weapons. You read that right. The World Health Organization ( WHO) “strongly recommends” that the Ukrainian government, according to the USA not present pathogens would destroy it just to be sure not below the existing population could be spread.Turns out the labs do exist; after all, they were supported by the USA, the EU and the WHO. But what is stored in the refrigerators and freezers is something that apparently needs to be covered up as quickly as possible.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/who-wil-vernietiging-van-onbestaande-bio-wapens/)
“Prime Minister Orban stated that both the army and a number of lawyers are preparing a new concept in which Hungary would remain a member of NATO but would not be obliged to provide military assistance to Ukraine. Moreover, he debunked Western myths about Russia’s drive for conquest by saying: “I don’t think it makes sense that Russia, which cannot even defeat Ukraine, would suddenly move here and swallow up the entire Western world.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/wil-hongarije-zijn-eigen-weg-inslaan/)
“Child trafficking in Europe’s backyard. A man was detained on June 27 at the Ukraine-Slovakia border. The police have information that the child was not intended for adoption in the EU but for harvesting organs (kidneys? heart?). He is said to have already bought children aged 1-2 years three times.”
- (https://www.golfbrekers.be/kinderhandel-in-europas-achtertuin/)
“The High Council of Justice is like a eunuch in the harem of certain Islamist princes. Even if those eunuchs wanted sex, they would never succeed.”
- (https://willyvandamme.wordpress.com/2024/04/19/de-onzin-van-de-hoge-raad-voor-justitie/)
“Whatever our media may say about the Russian security services, their response was swift and professional. Their actions were very brutal. But for that country there is only mud available in our media.”
- (https://willyvandamme.wordpress.com/2024/04/13/terreuraanval-op-krokustheater-puzzelstukjes-vallen-in-elkaar-maar-veel-vragen-blijven/)
It is clear that Russia is waging a war of propaganda and disinformation against Europe, whereas it is waging a real war against Ukraine, seizing its territories. An analysis of key Kremlin media narratives in different languages reveals that their campaign’s main goal is to force the West to stop supporting Ukraine and make concessions to Putin, probably by giving him the occupied territories and thus recognizing the redrawing of borders in Europe by military means.
The collection of quotes from biased papers (that support the Kremlin’s views) may go on for a long time. However, we believe that these extracts, mutual quotes, and reciprocal links between the websites in the infographic are sufficient to understand their ‘editorial policy’. The final conclusion about the bias or credibility of news outlets is up to the readers.
Belgium’s media landscape overview
In Belgium, most of the news traffic goes to the biggest mainstream media outlets. According to the SimilarWeb data (based on the last three months), the hln.be website is leading with a 30% traffic share among news websites in the country. Nieuwsblad.be follows with a 14% traffic share, while a dozen websites, including RTBF, Standaard, SudInfo, LeSoir, and others, have traffic shares ranging from 1.5% to 5.2%.
The fact that direct traffic to news websites accounts for 65% of total traffic confirms Belgian audiences’ trust in traditional and popular media outlets. Organic search, which accounts for 20% of the traffic, comes next, with mainstream leading news websites dominating.
Thus, identified pro-Russian ‘alternative’ news websites have only a small traffic share, an insignificant audience, little trust, and little influence. However, we have noticed that Russian speakers in Belgium tend to read Kremlin-funded news website Lenta.ru, which disseminates Russian propaganda and is not under sanctions, unlike RT, Sputnik, and Ria-Novosti. According to SimilarWeb data, Lenta.ru gets 127,000 visits in Belgium monthly.
Dewereldmorgen.be receives around 65,000 monthly visits, according to data. Identified pro-Kremlin websites receive less than 5,000 monthly visits. That’s why pro-Russian actors are active on social media, where it’s much easier to spread unverified reports.
Mainstream leading media outlets, which respect journalism standards, ethics, and objective reporting, cover almost all audiences in Belgium and remain influential. However, biased ‘alternative’ media raise concerns. Fostering media literacy, supporting independent journalism, and combating disinformation are crucial to blocking foreign interference.
