Unwitting Australians are doing Putin’s dirty work for him

Australian commentators have also begun to echo a favourite talking-point of Russian propagandists taking aim at Western war-fatigue: that further assistance for Ukraine will merely prolong the war. The unspoken conclusion is that we should reward imperial aggression and leave the Ukrainians to their fate.

In February, a Sydney Morning Herald interview with the conspiracy theorist Oliver Stone uncritically allowed him to falsely claim that the US had staged a coup in Ukraine in 2014; that the Ukrainian government had murdered thousands of ethnic Russian separatists; and that allegations of Russian war crimes were being spearheaded by elites in Washington DC.

Even Australia’s national broadcaster has begun platforming Russia-friendly views. In March, Four Corners aired the documentary “Ukraine’s War: the Other Side” by a company that previously produced content for the Kremlin’s leading propaganda outlet Russia Today. It certainly humanised Russian soldiers, albeit as credulous dupes. But it left unchallenged many of the Kremlin lies they parroted, including about the massacre at Bucha.

To top it off, Russian disinformation is now coming to a city near you. An Australian “speaking tour”, by none other than the Kremlin’s favourite American apologist Tucker Carlson, is being widely advertised in the mainstream press, including in this masthead. Branded as the Australian Freedom Conference, and featuring Carlson in conversation with Clive Palmer, the ads urge Australians to “wake up!” and “join the fight to protect your and your family’s future”.

All this is just the surface of what is consistent with Russian information operations elsewhere: a concerted effort to fragment democratic societies, make them suspicious of authority, and react with apathy to extreme views.

Far more of Australia’s Kremlin-friendly narratives appear outside its major presses. For instance, one Australian online publication styling itself as a “public policy journal” now republishes content directly from Global Research, a conspiracy site long associated with Russia’s military intelligence branch, the GRU.

There are numerous other examples. In April, Simeon Boikov, the self-styled “Aussie Cossack” waging an information war on behalf of Russia, falsely spread the claim that Sydney University student Ben Cohen was behind the stabbings at Bondi Junction. In doing so, he not only amplified racist burner accounts sharing Cohen’s identity, but engaged in what the ABC called “coded anti-semitic speculation” about Cohen’s name.

Boikov – granted Russian citizenship by Putin, and holed up in the Russian Consulate in Sydney to avoid assault charges – has also been involved in organising so-called “world freedom” rallies across Australia. These have amplified the types of nativist, anti-Western and anti-authority themes strongly correlated to Russian messaging. They include the “no” campaign in the Voice referendum, disinformation about AUKUS and Australia’s alliance with the US, and the anti-vaccination movement.

Importantly, Russia-friendly narratives aren’t limited to one side of the political spectrum. On the contrary, they can appeal to both left and right. Sometimes based on half-truths, they mirror the classic propagandists’ toolkit by presenting simple and didactic messages. These are designed to elicit emotional responses, and frequently identify someone to blame: the US, the government, Jews, “elites”, Muslims, and a host of others.

The information age, where clickbait rules and people increasingly define themselves within pockets of belief, is the perfect medium for that kind of messaging, which sprays disinformation across the digital landscape like a sawn-off shotgun.

It’s also important to note that Russian-friendly disinformation is rarely planted by shadowy Kremlin agents. Rather, it’s amplified by them, picking up on divisive themes that already exist in societies.

Most in the Australian Russia-friendly information environment would justifiably be outraged at the insinuation they are de facto boosters for a hostile power. After all, they are making claims that coincide with Russian preferences, rather than being dictated by them. Many would also have little in common with other Australians unwittingly doing the same.

But like biological warfare researchers, Russia’s info-warriors know that the narratives they seek to promote work best when the target does the spreading for you.

That kind of hands-off approach conveys a number of benefits. It provides plausible deniability. It creates networks of proxies among the easily swayed and those seeking to advance issues for personal, ideological or political gain. Critically, it allows connections to be made, linking disinformation ecosystems together. And, when a Western source makes an erroneous claim, it can be cited by a Russian source – effectively laundering disinformation.

To combat this, it’s critical to call it out early on. That’s not just because these messages embed themselves quickly, or because they’re circulating freely with very little pushback. It’s because if they become normalised, we’ll inadvertently bring about exactly what our adversaries want: an inward-looking, distracted and untrusting society – one we wouldn’t even recognise ourselves.

Matthew Sussex is Visiting Fellow at the Strategic & Defence Studies Centre at Australian National University.

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