Kremlin bots spin ruble's fall on VKontakte, face backlash
Kremlin bots have launched an effort to convince VKontakte users that the sharp decline in the ruble's value does not impact the Russian economy, the Moscow Times reported on Friday, citing data from the Botnadzor team.
Since November 25, when the ruble began to fall sharply, bots linked to the Russian authorities have posted about 600 comments on the VKontakte social network. They claim that changes in currency exchange rates do not affect Russians' daily lives.
"Why do we even need that currency? If the rate jumped, it will fall too," the comments stated. The bots reminisced about the situation in 2022, when the exchange rate was 100 rubles to one dollar, before dropping to around 60 rubles later.
The ruble dives
Another theme pushed by the bots was the emphasis on the role of the ruble in international transactions. They asserted that Russia trades with "friendly" countries using rubles, and even some Western countries pay for Russian resources in this currency. "What does the dollar have to do with this? Is the world economy based on it? (...) 85% of payments are made in national currencies, and the West has long been buying our resources in rubles," the propaganda accounts argued.
On November 27, the dollar's exchange rate on the Forex market in Russia approached 115 rubles, while the euro exceeded 120 rubles. In response to these fluctuations, the Central Bank of Russia set the official exchange rates for Friday: the dollar was priced at 110 rubles and the euro at 116 rubles. According to money.pl, the fall of the ruble also affected the yuan's rate. On November 27, "the Chinese currency strengthened by 0.50 points to 15 rubles, marking an increase of 3.43% from Tuesday's close. This is the most significant one-day weakening of the Russian currency against the yuan in many months."
Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, attributed the ruble's decline to new U.S. sanctions.
"The sanctions list included 50 credit institutions. As a result, the circulation of foreign currency through the accounts of these banks is now practically halted," he explained.
Botnadzor, whose data the Moscow Times cites, is a team researching Russian propaganda and bot activity on the Russian internet.
