Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Valentin Châtelet @vchatelet.bsky.social · Jul 1

🚨 The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned the AEZA Group. Listen to my podcast with Active Measures where I discuss Russia's collaboration with cybercriminal groups and their role in influence operations. AEZA is linked to Op. Doppelgänger & Blacksprut, a major dark web marketplace omny.fm/shows/active...

The Pravda Network with Valentin Chatelet - The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast

This week, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Valentin Chatelet, a research associate at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, for an urgent discussion of the Pravda Network--a Russia...

omny.fm

Valentin Châtelet @vchatelet.bsky.social · Jun 30

In this week's episode of the Active Measure Newsletter's podcast I was invited to discuss the content of our joint investigation with @dfrlab.bsky.social and @checkfirst.network on the Pravda Network and the consequences of the poisoning of LLMs & the targeting of Wikipedia
omny.fm/shows/active...

The Pravda Network with Valentin Chatelet - The Active Measures Newsletter Podcast

This week, Jim Ludes and Mark Jacobson welcome Valentin Chatelet, a research associate at the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab, for an urgent discussion of the Pravda Network--a Russia...

omny.fm

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News Eye @newseye.bsky.social · Jun 1

Last year, Russia imported 5.4 MILLION shipping containers.

After today’s historic attack, every single one is a potential weapon that Putin is terrified of.

Not only has Ukraine neutered Russia’s long-range air capability today, but they just crippled its supply chain & economy.

Utter genius.

A photo of a shipping container which concealed the Ukrainian attack drones in a false roof.

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Szabolcs Panyi @szabolcspanyi.bsky.social · May 8

💥🎙️In a leaked audio, Viktor Orbán's defense minister says Hungary's army is being reshaped “to break with the peace mentality and move toward phase zero of the road leading to war.”

It's unlikely he means a war against Russia — he was a business partner of Russia's Transmashholding.

👇Thread.👇

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Radio&Nukes @radioandnukes.com · May 7

How Dare You Transmit at 1.4 GHz!
A NASA satellite built to measure soil moisture just mapped out electronic warfare across UA and western RU. Using open data, we visualized high-powered jamming and spoofing activity at 1.4 GHz radioandnukes.substack.com/p/how-dare-y...

How Dare You Transmit at 1.4 GHz!

It was launched to measure moisture. Now it’s ghost-trailing jammers across an electronic battlefield.

radioandnukes.substack.com

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Social Media Lab @socialmedialab.ca · May 1

"Google and Meta accounted for at least half the record £42.6bn spent on UK advertising last year, according to Press Gazette estimates." pressgazette.co.uk/marketing/go...

Google and Meta's vast estimated UK earnings revealed

Google and Meta advertising market share for 2024: US tech giants made around £25.4bn in UK alone last year.

pressgazette.co.uk

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The Kyiv Independent @kyivindependent.com · May 1

At least 30 Ukrainian journalists remain in Russian captivity as of April, IMI reported, with little known about their health conditions or whereabouts. Multiple reports have revealed that Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are tortured and killed while in Russian captivity.

Russia's torture of Viktoriia Roshchyna shocks world, but dozens of Ukrainian journalists still in captivity

It took several DNA tests to confirm the identity of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was killed in Russian captivity in the fall of 2024. Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while...

kyivindependent.com

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Civil.ge @civil.ge · May 1

EPP calls for sanctions on Ivanishvili, non-recognition of GD parliament, and backing Zurabishvili as the only legitimate representative of the Georgian people. It also calls on the GD to set a specific date for new parliamentary elections.

EPP’s Resolution Calls for Sanctions on Ivanishvili and New Elections - Civil Georgia

The European People’s Party (EPP), the largest political group in the European Parliament, adopted a

civil.ge

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Amaury @al.checkfirst.network · Apr 18

Ever wondered how many “Pravda” articles go live every hour, where they originate or the paths they take?

With @vchatelet.bsky.social we decided to build the first Pravda Dashboard offering real‑time windows into Russia’s “Portal Kombat” disinformation network

#osint #russia #disinformation

Pravda in numbers - Content and Network analysis

Interactive dashboard visualizing patterns, language distribution, domain connections and more across the Pravda Russian network.

portal-kombat.com

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

24Hours Ukraine @24hoursukraine.bsky.social · Apr 17

Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) detained a russian spy in Kyiv who was preparing terrorist attacks near defense facilities.

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Ruslan Trad @ruslantrad.bsky.social · Apr 17

Russia’s push for control over the occupied Abkhazia is evident in reopening the decades-closed Sukhumi Babushara Airport and a test flight from Moscow.

Read more by my colleagues @sopogelava.bsky.social and @vchatelet.bsky.social:

Russia expands its strategic footprint in occupied Abkhazia

The reopening of the decades-closed Sukhumi Babushara Airport and a test flight from Moscow demonstrate Russia’s push for control over occupied Abkhazia.

dfrlab.org

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DFRLab @dfrlab.bsky.social · Apr 11

What do #Wikipedia, #LLms, & #X have in common? They’ve all been quietly infiltrated by the Pravda network—a sprawling web of pro-Kremlin sites posing as news outlets. @vchatelet.bsky.social BlueSky explores #PravdaNetwork w/ @checkfirst.network in this week's the Source: bit.ly/3EcgvpZ

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Terje Helland @terjehelland.bsky.social · Mar 29

If the West — the UK 🇬🇧 in particular — doesn’t act now with targeted sanctions, it’ll be too late to hurt the dictatorship before it cements its rule and fortune.
Time is running out.⌛️

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INPACT - Investigations with Impact @aeowinpact.bsky.social · Mar 25

[Hybrid warfare] 🧵hey @viginum.bsky.social , here is our take: Global Kombat, the Russian one-stop shop for influence goes global

alleyesonwagner.org/2025/03/25/g...

Global Kombat

The Russian one-stop shop for influence goes global The Pravda Network, initially identified by French disinformation watchdog Viginum, has recently expanded its scope of topics, targeted countries…

alleyesonwagner.org

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Alex Raufoglu @ralexdc.bsky.social · Mar 25

NEW! Two former U.S officials overseeing Ukraine policy raised alarms over the potential shutdown of a vital Yale unit that has played a key role in gathering evidence on russian war crimes in Ukraine, as the program will run out of funding this weekend👇🏻

kyivpost.com/post/49579

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Terje Helland @terjehelland.bsky.social · Mar 24

🇬🇪Georgia is quietly undergoing a dramatic geopolitical shift. Under Georgian Dream and its informal leader Bidzina Ivanishvili, the country is accelerating its alignment with Iran (and China and Russia)—abandoning its Western orientation.
🧵A thread on why this matters.
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Hans Gutbrod @hansgutbrod.bsky.social · Mar 14

Subjugation is exactly the right word @orelb.bsky.social

Orel Beilinson @orelb.bsky.social · Mar 14

It is rather unfortunate that Georgia's Eurovision song this year is a ballad that speaks about the homeland and freedom. The sweet Edelweiss vibes aside, it is sung by a proponent of the ruling party, which stands for really anything but freedom – it most notably stands for Putinist subjugation.

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DFRLab @dfrlab.bsky.social · Mar 13

NEW 🚨 The #Pravdanetwork—a Russia-linked disinformation operation—has infiltrated #Wikipedia, AI chatbots, and #X, spreading pro-Kremlin narratives globally.

@vchatelet.bsky.social & @checkfirst.network
reveal the scale of this content pollution: bit.ly/3R6XW9l

Russia-linked Pravda network cited on Wikipedia, LLMs, and X

Pro-Kremlin content pollutes sources on multiple platforms, sparking worries of false claims and sanctioned content reaching global audiences

bit.ly

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Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · Mar 9

Last weekend I tried to get a correction from Matt Taibbi on a basic “mistake”: claiming a report I wrote was source of the stat that 126MM people saw Russian influence op content on FB. Rather than correct, he fought me. He made more “mistakes”. Hilarity ensued.

open.substack.com/pub/reneedir...

An Object Lesson in Bad-Faith Media

Matt Taibbi and the Futility of Getting a Correction from Someone Who Won't Admit They're Wrong

open.substack.com

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George Melashvili 🇺🇦🇬🇪 @mel.ge · Mar 10

Two excellent lecturers, Ira Kherkheulidze & Giorgi Tsertsvadze, have been dismissed from Tbilisi State University on political grounds. Both are exceptional educators and principled citizens. Academic freedom... [1/2]

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · Mar 10

SCOOP—Emails obtained by @zeteo.com show Mahmoud Khalil reached out for help from the Columbia administration *one day before* ICE detained him.

He said he couldn't sleep from threats he was receiving.
He even wrote that he feared ICE "might come to my home."

SCOOP: Emails Show Mahmoud Khalil Asked Columbia for Protection a Day Before He Was Detained

"I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urge you to intervene and provide the necessary protections to prevent further harm."

zeteo.com

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auonsson @auonsson.bsky.social · Mar 10

Now BBC reports both ships on fire and crew abandoning ships. FU. Hope they make it...

Great reporting from BBC here:
www.bbc.com/news/live/cg...

Oil tanker and cargo vessel collide in North Sea

Lifeboats and firefighting teams are on the scene, after two ships collide off the coast of East Yorkshire.

www.bbc.com

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · Mar 10

From Marine Traffic, here's the moment of the crash between the oil tanker MV Stena Immaculate and a cargo vessel MV Solong. Live updates here www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live...

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Toomas Hendrik Ilves @ilvestoomas.bsky.social · Mar 7

The American aerospace company Maxar Technologies has disabled Ukraine's access to its satellite images.

mil.in.ua/uk/news/maxa...

Maxar відключив Україні доступ до своїх супутникових знімків

Американська компанія Maxar Technologies відключила доступ до своїх комерційних супутникових знімків користувачам з України

mil.in.ua

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Reposted by Valentin Châtelet

Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · Mar 7

Reports in the Ukrainian press that Maxar had cut of the Ukrainians access to Maxar imagery, including commercial imagery, at the request of the US administration
mil.in.ua/uk/news/maxa...

Maxar відключив Україні доступ до своїх супутникових знімків

Американська компанія Maxar Technologies відключила доступ до своїх комерційних супутникових знімків користувачам з України

mil.in.ua

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