Philip Obaji Jr., independent journalist, is one of the leading experts on Russian influence in Africa. INVED Head Editor Dietmar Pichler met him twice and asked him about his insights, experiences, and motives.
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Der Begriff Medienkompetenz wird im Diskurs meist nur vereinfacht auf die Fähigkeit begrenzt, “Fake News”, Desinformation und betrügerische Inhalte zu erkennen und diese, auch im Sinne der eigenen Reputationspflege, nicht weiterzuverbreiten.

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By Anastasiia Hatsenko, Digital authoritarianism and Russian disinformation analyst
In late December 2025, wide-scale demonstrations broke out across Iran. What began as protests over increases in the prices of basic foodstuffs and the country’s staggering annual inflation rate has escalated into anti-government demonstrations that directly challenge Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The governmental response to the protests has led to one of the most comprehensive shutdowns of the Internet in the country’s history.
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It has to be mentioned that despite this article referring to Iranian propaganda for reasons of simplicity, the theocratic regime does not equal the Iranian population. The Iranian population shows a huge amount of resistance to the dictatorship both within the country and in the diaspora. Large parts of Iranian society have repeatedly demonstrated against the regime despite severe repression. Protest movements have been met with violence, censorship, and mass arrests. The gap between state ideology and popular sentiment continues to widen. In the last decades, Iran has become one of the major anti Western propaganda powers. The regime is a state sponsor of terrorism, including Hamas and Hezbollah. It kills and intimidates dissidents and opposition figures abroad via its agents disguised as diplomats. The regime is also very active in recruiting agents of influence and infiltrating foreign think tanks, universities, and politics. These activities are often carried out covertly and are difficult to trace. Several intelligence services have warned about Iranian influence operations. Exiled opposition figures have repeatedly been targeted through intimidation and assassination attempts.
The autocratic radical religious regime may have a worldview that belongs to ancient times, but this does not prevent it from spreading its propaganda using modern technology. Troll farms, social media profiles, fabricated AI videos, and out of context footage are part of this strategy. Digital state media outlets like Press TV or Tehran Times also play an important role. They operate with local and also Western correspondents. These outlets attempt to appear legitimate and professional. Their content is often tailored to specific audiences. Messaging is adjusted to local political debates in Western societies. For example, Iranian state media has portrayed domestic protest movements as foreign led destabilization attempts. Another example is the amplification of claims that Western sanctions are responsible for humanitarian crises. At the same time, the regime ignores its own economic mismanagement.

Narratives are versatile and not limited to issues in the Middle East. They often focus on social division, mistrust of democratic institutions, and anti American sentiment. Iranian propaganda frequently aligns itself with other authoritarian states. The main area of the Iranian regime’s power projection is the Middle East. This region also represents the focus of its propaganda efforts. The destruction of Israel is one of the main topics. Religious and de facto also state leader Ali Chameneii called Israel a cancer that will be eradicated.

This narrative is also connected to broader antisemitism and conspiracy theories. In 2006, the Iranian regime held the Shoa denier conference called “International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust”. Neo Nazis and other obscure guests from all over the world were invited. The regime also spreads conspiracy theories about the 9/11 attacks. It promotes general anti Western narratives as well. After the full scale invasion of Ukraine, Iranian channels also supported Russian narratives. This support took place in alliance with the international anti Western front. Since 2024, Iran has been part of the BRICS community. This alignment further strengthened cooperation between authoritarian regimes. Iran also supplies Russia with weapons, especially the notorious Shahed drones.

What the regime propaganda apparatus is constantly trying to do is distort reality, not only about the international situation but also about the situation in Iran. Iranian media and think tanks even claim that womens rights are more respected than before the revolution, along with similar claims about human rights and religious freedom. The regime is also using subtle narratives and cultural diplomacy to whitewash the domestic situation while at the same time amplifying frictions in the West, portraying Western countries as “imperialist”, “islamophobic”, and lacking freedom of speech.

Schoresch Davoodi, an expert on international relations and propaganda with Iranian roots, told INVED: “Iranian propaganda is primarily built on portraying the Islamic Republic as ‘normal’ and ‘legitimate.’ Since 1979, it has relied on the false claim that it is both inevitable and ‘anti-imperialist’, framing any alternatives as ‘foreign-controlled’. In doing so, it makes use of a network of Islamists and leftists, some of which dates back to the period before the Islamic Revolution.”

President Zelensky recently presented the new 20 points Peace Plan, which is different from the former peace plan that was more like a plan for complete surrender, not only militarily but also surrendering to Russian propaganda narratives. Still, the new peace plan, which could potentially, according to the Ukrainian president, be confirmed by Ukrainians through a referendum, holds some rewards for the aggressor, Russia. Ukraine will not join NATO, but demands security guarantees that are similar to Article 5. This is the actual problem for Russia, not being able to attack, not getting attacked. Further, the peace plan, while it highlights the sovereignty of Ukraine, does not demand a full Russian withdrawal from the occupied territories of Ukraine.

One point of the agreement says: “Both countries agree to promote education that fosters cultural understanding and combats racism and prejudice. Ukraine will adopt EU standards on religious tolerance and minority language protection.” This is something that is part of the EU accession plan of Ukraine anyway and is already in the process of being implemented. Meanwhile, in Russia, radical views and hatred are promoted. It is interesting that the minority languages part is not mandatory for Russia in this plan, which shows that it still gives some kind of tribute to Russian “war justifications” of “protecting Russian speakers,” which is problematic.

The biggest problem of this peace plan is the high risk connected to security guarantees that become obsolete when “Ukraine attacks Russia”. This makes sense at first glance, but looking deeper into the history of this war, before the full-scale invasion started, Russia conducted many false flag operations and staged propaganda videos. In one of them, we could see a man screaming in pain because he allegedly lost his leg during an “attack of the Kyiv regime.” The problem was that in a couple of frames it was visible that he already wore a prosthesis. The video was then removed by Russian propagandists after they were exposed. Moscow has a long history of forgery, staged events, and false flag operations to demonize the enemy and “justify” reactions.

In December 2025, chats between pro-Russian agents were published that planned false flag operations using stickers and graffiti in public spaces. They also used far-right symbols connected to pro-Ukrainian messages to make Ukrainians and pro-Ukrainians look like “Nazis,” and they damaged property during their false flag operations to create even more hatred against Ukrainians. Russian agents could easily stage an attack on Russia to “justify” another invasion and make Ukraine’s allies hesitant to help.

1999: After several bomb attacks on apartment buildings in Russia, which were attributed at the time to Chechens, a strange incident occurred. On September 22, 1999, residents in Ryazan, Russia, observed a car unloading large sacks into the basement of an apartment building. Police found bags containing white powder and a detonator, which appeared to indicate an imminent attack. It later emerged that the individuals involved were officers of Russia’s domestic security service, the FSB. Shortly afterward, the FSB claimed it had not been a real bomb, but “sugar” used as part of an anti-terrorism exercise.

In 2014 Russian forces in the occupied Donetsk oblast shot down passenger airliner MH17, killing all 298 souls on board. The Kremlin reacted with an incomparable disinformation campaign, aiming to overwhelm audiences with so many “alternative” versions of reality that what actually happened was pushed into the background. Russia never admitted the shootdown of MH17, but rather used it to create even more propaganda to demonize Ukraine, claiming “Ukraine shot it down.”

There are several situations in which Russian propaganda confused Western audiences and politicians about the situation in Ukraine since 2014. Who is going to monitor the contact line between Ukraine and Russia, and are these observers aware that Russia could conduct false flag operations or other forgeries at any time? Not only Russia’s allies, but also Western countries acted extremely naively regarding the Kremlin’s strategies of confusion and deception. The long history of “Active Measures,” now upgraded to modern hybrid warfare, still does not seem to be part of common knowledge and awareness. Russia broke several agreements it had with Ukraine since 2014 and never showed any compromises or admitted guilt for the escalation since 2014. The idea of having a binding, reliable, and sustainable agreement with this regime without showing force is a naive illusion that was wrong in 2014 and is even more wrong now.

Sources:

1. Example of False Flag attack before the full scale invasion, TSN, 2022
https://tsn.ua/ru/ukrayina/segodnya-eto-oskar-boeviki-snyali-ocherednoe-feykovoe-video-s-ranenym-grazhdanskim-v-luganskoy-oblasti-1983103.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

2. “Ukraine’s Zelensky offers peace concessions – and puts the ball in Putin’s court”, CNN 2025
https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/24/europe/ukraine-zelensky-peace-concessions-intl