More than 180 fake social media posts linked to the Russian influence operation "Matryoshka" were identified ahead of regional and local elections in Germany. The campaign sought to discredit political candidates and deepen divisions between eastern and western Germany.
This is stated in an investigation by Deutsche Welle's fact-checking desk, Ukrinform reports.
"The DW fact-checking team counted more than 180 fake posts on the X, Bluesky, and TikTok platforms ahead of the regional elections," the publication says.
Journalists link the identified materials to the Russian influence operation "Matryoshka," also known as Overload. The data on them was collected by the anonymous research collective Antibot4Navalny, which tracks Russian disinformation campaigns online.
Deutsche Welle received the posts, which were published starting on June 24. According to the journalists' observations, the disinformers posted them only on working days.
