A Federal Agency Says Russia Is Spreading 'False Narratives' About The Canadian Armed Forces

A federal government agency has said that Russia is spreading "false narratives" about the Canadian Armed Forces including doctored images and "false claims" of war crimes.

The Communications Security Establishment (CSE), which provides the federal government with information technology security and foreign signals intelligence, posted a series of tweets on April 13 about online disinformation relating to the Russia Ukraine war.

"Since Russia's brazen and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine, CSE continues to observe numerous Russia-backed disinformation campaigns online," it said on Twitter.

The agency shared a number of observations from its classified reports about the ongoing situation.

"Kremlin officials have been directly involved in guiding and coordinating Russia-backed disinformation efforts," CSE said.

CSE said that Russian government-controlled media outlets have shared narratives that are "designed to discredit and spread disinformation about NATO allies" which includes "false narratives" about Canada's involvement in the conflict.

"These outlets were directed to include doctored images of Canadian Forces members on the front line and false claims about Canadian forces committing war crimes," the agency said.

According to CSE, another one of the false narratives was about members of the Canadian Armed Forces being in the Donbas region which was timed with the news of Canadian Forces arriving in Ukraine to secure the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv.

"All observations in this thread are based on CSE intelligence. We are sharing this information as part of the Government of Canada's efforts to help inform Canadians so they can protect themselves from disinformation," the agency said.

Recently, Russia has taken aim at Canadian politicians by adding them to the so-called "black list" that bans them from entering the country.

More than 300 Canadians, including Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh, are currently barred from entering Russia.

The Russian government said the move was in retaliation to "Russophobic" sanctions imposed by Canada and called Canada's actions "hostile."

When he found out he was banned from Russia, Singh put out a personal message to Vladimir Putin and called him a "tyrant."