Disinformation
Mutual killing of Slavs and oppression of the Russian minority. Slovak disinformers revive the legitimizing narratives of Russian propaganda
Adapt Institute provides an overview of disinformation trends that have been on the rise in the last two weeks:
- The American peace plan has served the Slovak disinformation scene to legitimize some of the narratives they have been spreading since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Well-known figures are focusing primarily on the European Union (EU), which they continue to demonize. Brussels and European leaders are said to be trying to prolong the mutual killing of Slavs.
- The original legitimizing narratives of Russian propaganda are making a comeback. Despite the fact that there is no evidence of systematic persecution of the Russian minority on Ukrainian territory, disinformers are once again arguing for Russia's right to war through claims of human rights violations and the presence of Nazism. This is not surprising, as the peace plan, which in some parts is indeed strikingly biased towards Russian interests, may today serve as false evidence of the so-called right side of history.
- Donald Trump, together with Elon Musk, who called for the dissolution of the EU, earned praise from the Slovak far-right. In addition, MEPs from the Republika movement focused on stirring up fear of migrants and the so-called green fraud.
Peace for Russia?
The turn of November and December was marked by a 28-point peace plan proposed by the administration of US President Donald Trump. The proposal is the result of negotiations between Russia and the US, in which European partners do not have much trust. According to many experts, the terms of the peace plan are very reminiscent of some of Moscow's demands. Ukrainian President Zelensky has not completely rejected the plan, but he has told the public that he will not betray Ukraine's interests. He has also consulted with European leaders on his approach in recent days. According to leaked information reported by the German daily Der Spiegel, European leaders are trying to protect Ukraine from the consequences of the US-Russian rapprochement.
According to the original plan, Ukraine is to cede a significant part of its territory, which is not even under Russia's full control at the moment. This would include Crimea, Luhansk, and Donetsk, with the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions serving as a line to freeze the conflict. Although the US is offering certain security guarantees, the agreement would mean closing the door to NATO for Ukraine.
The possibility of integration into the EU would still remain on the table. Ukraine would have to hold elections within 100 days of the conclusion of the peace agreement (which could be influenced by Russia, for example). In addition, Ukraine would have to adopt EU rules on religious tolerance and the protection of linguistic minorities. Both countries would also agree to abolish all discriminatory measures and guarantee the rights of Ukrainian and Russian media and education.
The plan is not yet finalized and is still under discussion. Nevertheless, for many figures on the Slovak political and disinformation scene, the American proposal for a peace plan was a form of satisfaction. Thanks to its parameters, it is said to prove that they were not wrong from the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022 and that they were on the right side of history. Some of these actors used the situation to launch further attacks on the EU or to continue spreading pro-Russian narratives. Article 20 of the proposal, which talks about banning (eliminating) Nazi ideology, was particularly grist to the mill. Let us remember that this is the incorporation of one of the key narratives of Russian propaganda, which the Kremlin has been using for several years to legitimize its aggression.
We therefore examined this topic using the Gerulata Juno analytical tool. We used it to analyze the most popular posts on Slovak Facebook that contained the keyword "peace plan." We excluded posts that did not contain problematic narratives from the list. We then evaluated the posts based on the total number of interactions (the sum of all reactions, comments, and shares). The number of interactions corresponds to the date of data collection, and in the meantime, the posts could have generated even higher numbers.
The post with the highest number of interactions belongs to PM Robert Fico. Only part of his speech in the Slovak Parliament is devoted to the peace plan. However, he devotes a recapitulation of a wide range of Russian propaganda narratives that are intended to legitimize the war. Fico moved from fabricated information about the persecution of the Russian minority, through the controlled Maidan, to conspiracy theories about British and European interests in prolonging the war. Fico specifically addressed the issue of frozen Russian assets, which he is willing to support using for the reconstruction of Ukraine. In the context of considerations about using these funds to arm Ukraine (which is part of the European vision for the further development of the conflict), the PM has, on the contrary, made it quite clear that he will try to thwart such steps. In other words, Fico has once again sided with Moscow with this statement. He is thus continuing his long-standing rhetoric about ensuring peace in Ukraine, which he presents to his audience as a moral course of action, but at every possible opportunity he presents the causes and possible consequences of the war according to the Russian interests handbook.
The second post was published by the controversial media outlet Marker.sk. This is a relatively new brand on the Slovak media market, but since its inception in June 2025, it has been contributing conspiracy content and narratives in line with Russian propaganda to the Slovak media landscape. In a short video, Vladimír Palko, who was Minister of the Interior from 2002 to 2006 and also Vice-Chairman of the Christian Democratic Movement, addresses the audience. Recently, like other figures from Slovak political history, he has become a vocal mouthpiece for spreading certain pro-Russian narratives and conspiracy theories. In the video, he accuses the West of spreading propaganda about a good Ukraine that supposedly ignored the presence of corruption, Nazism, and the oppression of the Russian minority. He uses the terms of the US president's peace plan as evidence. In addition to his words about the propaganda of the "Western liberal elites," it should be added that the terms of the plan do not prove anything. On the contrary, the UN, OSCE, Council of Europe, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International have never confirmed systematic violations of the rights of the Russian minority in Ukraine. The OSCE monitoring missions in Donbas (2014–2022) did not record any ethnic cleansing or policies of liquidation or persecution of Russian speakers.
The third post on the topic was published by the Blog investigatívnej žurnalistiky (Investigative Journalism Blog), which has long served as a channel for spreading pro-Russian narratives in Slovakia (both on Telegram and Facebook). This time, it reposted part of a Slovak public television program featuring Eduard Chmelár. The former PM's advisor focused on discrediting Ukraine as an untrustworthy partner. He referred to the corruption scandal that has been rocking Kyiv in recent weeks and cost Andriy Yermak, the former right-hand man of the president, his position in state institutions. Despite the fact that Yermak has left his position as head of the presidential office and that the case is still under investigation, Chmelár frightened the audience with the possibility of a Ukrainian civil war. He added to his warning about Ukraine, which "could be a source of much greater problems for Europe than any Russian threat," by claiming that "in our rush to show solidarity, we have allowed Ukrainians to do whatever they want." Deliberately downplaying Moscow's imperialist interests is nothing new in Chmelár's repertoire. This time, he added criticism of the EU and Ursula von der Leyen, whom he reproached for leading Europe toward unfulfillable promises to support Ukraine despite corruption. It is always interesting to see how Chmelár juggles the meaning of topics—at times, it might even seem that he presents suspicions of corruption as a legitimate reason for concluding a peace agreement that is disadvantageous to Ukraine, and at other times as a legitimate reason for Russian aggression itself.
Another post was published by Tibor Gašpar (SMER-SSD). Similar to Chmelár, the Vice- speaker of the Slovak Parliament focused his attention on the EU and Ursula von der Leyen. Gašpar described her statement on the inviolability of Ukraine's borders as an expression of European militant movements. He went on to claim that the European Commissioner had thereby confirmed that "she is closer to the bloodshed of the Slavs than to real peace." The fact that Tibor Gašpar criticizes anyone who dares to completely disregard Russian interests is hardly surprising in the context of his long-standing rhetoric, which feeds on pro-Russian sentiments in Slovakia. Nor are his repeated Russian narratives about the oppression of "the human rights of Russian citizens" and the threat to "Russian security guarantees posed by NATO expansion" surprising. For the sake of clarity, there is no evidence of systematic persecution of the Russian minority in Ukraine. Before 2014, there was hardly any conflict between Ukrainians and Russian-speaking Ukrainians—ethnic identity and language were not a source of tension. For decades, Russian was commonly used in the media, commerce, culture, and everyday life. Before 2014, television content in Ukraine consisted largely of Russian channels. Many Ukrainian politicians (including the current Ukrainian president) spoke primarily Russian. The conflict was and is the result of Russian interference, Kremlin-backed separatism, and information operations. As for NATO expansion, Ukraine only had a partnership with NATO until 2022, and there were no Western troops on its territory. The NATO Charter provides exclusively for collective defence, and since the end of the Cold War, new member states have not posed a threat to Russia. Before 2014, Ukraine even declared neutrality, until the annexation of Crimea and the war in Donbas in 2014 dramatically shifted public opinion and political direction.
The last post in the series was published by the aforementioned Eduard Chmelár. This time, he focused on the head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, who expressed her support for Ukraine in connection with the peace plan and drew attention to Russian interests in the negotiations. She also suggested that limiting the number of soldiers in the Russian army might be worth considering. Chmelár labelled her an "idiot of galactic proportions" for this idea. In the spirit of (zero) constructiveness and ad hominem attacks, Chmelár continued in his post. Without any hesitation, he described the Ukrainian defense as senseless bloodshed motivated by Western warmongers who did not want to negotiate with Russia. Is it necessary to recall the moments when Russia constantly stood by its initial maximalist demands or refused to negotiate? Chmelár presents the peace treaty between Ukraine and Russia, despite its pro-Russian parameters, to his audience as something that is in the essential interest of Slovakia. At the end of his post, Chmelár adds a conspiratorial dimension—he manipulative talks about some kind of admission that "the goal of all military, intelligence, and political activities of the West since at least 2014 has been the collapse of the Russian Empire." The reality? These are the words of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny. Chmelár himself begins his article with them. But in his conclusion, he relies on the devotion and inattention of his fans.
European Union demonized
In addition to the top posts, MEP Ľuboš Blaha also addressed the peace plan. The SMER-SSD member accused the EU of attempting to sabotage the negotiations and continued with his traditional narrative about Europe's desperation and the theft of Russian money (by which the MEP means frozen Russian assets, which he wishes to return to Moscow at all costs). In addition, he frightened the public with a fictional notion of some kind of progressive plan to create a Slovak colony under the patronage of Brussels. He concluded his post by saying that the peace plan proposal confirms what "they have been saying from day one".
Like Eduard Chmelár, György Gyimesi also attacked Kaja Kallas. Together with Ursula von der Leyen, the former MP blamed her for the "stagnation in which the whole of Europe finds itself." In addition to indebting the continent and burning money in Ukraine, as Gyimesi presents aid to victims of aggression, he criticizes them for their green policies and does not forget the never-ending narrative of efforts to drag the EU into war.
A report on anti-EU rhetoric would certainly not be complete without the presence of MEP Milan Mazurek. The posts of this well-known face of the far-right Republika party have been among the most followed in recent times. He has bet on time-tested narratives about the so-called green fraud, scaremongering about migration and the digital euro (he conspires, for example, about globalist agendas), and reports of Brussels' dictatorial tendencies. For instance, he published a recording of his impassioned speech in the European Parliament (EP), in which he called on European officials and MEPs to stop the green fraud, as he calls the Green Deal. He continued with accusations of attempts to gain "control over people's lives" and "social and ideological experiments".
In another post, Mazurek returns to the constitutional changes in Slovakia that took place at the end of September. We also reported on this in our previous report. Due to the constitutional changes, the EU has launched infringement proceedings against Slovakia, in which it accuses Slovakia of placing Slovak law above European law. Mazurek presents this move by the European Commission as "political bullying and the dictates of extremist fanatics from Brussels." In doing so, he ignores the fact that renowned lawyers and experts also pointed out this legal inconsistency before the constitutional amendment was adopted. He tries to turn the situation around and present it as unfair action by the EU.
While Milan Uhrík, President of the Republic party, praised Donald Trump for his American security strategy, which predicts the collapse of the EU, and Elon Musk, who calls for its dissolution, Mazurek continued to frighten the public with a terrifying image of Christmas and migrants. According to the MEP, Western Europe is "drowning more and more every day in blood, violence, despair, and chaos." Cities were supposed to turn into jungles flooded with violent migrants and progressive ideology, which Mazurek presents as a threat to Eastern Europe as well. The danger is said to be particularly acute at Christmas markets. The MEP once again shows that he knows how to play on the emotions of his audience—fear of the unknown, lack of information about the situation, and exaggerated fabrication through well-known cases of (including terrorist) violence are effective tools in this field.
Mazurek chose similarly hostile rhetoric in another post, which recorded more than 1.3 million views in just five days after publication. In the video, the MEP accuses journalists, whom he refers to as "sold-out rats," of not covering President Trump's speech criticizing the EU's migration policy. While Mazurek talks about a media conspiracy to suppress Trump's "revolutionary words" on the so-called European migration experiment, the reality is quite different. The fact is that Trump spoke these words at the UN at the end of September. The post accusing the media of not reporting on this three months later is misguided and manipulative, to say the least. This is especially true given that at the end of September, the media paid due attention to the US president's words and had to refute several false claims.
Project is organized by Adapt Institute and supported by the Prague office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. It continuously monitors the activities of both Slovak and foreign disinformation actors, but focuses mainly on the former. The project activities are built upon daily monitoring of emerging disinformation, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories in the online information space. This approach allows the analysts to identify disinformation posts and narratives that resonated with the public the most, as well as to find out where they originated, and how they spread and evolved on social media. The report takes the form of a bi-weekly summary of arising trends in the spread of malicious information content online. Based on that, Adapt Institute can inform the public about emerging and current trends in the field of disinformation, manipulation, and propaganda.