Russian state and pro-Kremlin affiliated actors coordinate to conduct FIMI attacks. These operations are carried out through Russian diplomatic networks and security services, state-controlled media, social media channels, private companies and local proxies, used in an integrated manner to multiply and amplify each other.

EUvsDisinfo is the flagship project of the EEAS to address and respond to Russia’s ongoing information manipulation operations affecting the European Union, EU Member States, countries in the EU’s neighbourhood, in Sub-Saharan Africa and other global partners. EUvsDisinfo aims to increase public awareness and understanding of the Kremlin’s information operation, and to help citizens in Europe and beyond develop resilience to information manipulation and disinformation.

The EUvsDisinfo website reaches millions of readers every year. It includes the world’s largest public archive of pro-Kremlin disinformation. The website also features articles, interviews and guest content published in 13 different languages. You can follow EUvsDisinfo on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, Bluesky, Threads and YouTube.

FIMI in conflict-affected areas poses a serious risk to EU civilian and military (CSDP) missions.

By seeking to damage the reputation of EU missions and operations, often by misleading populations in partner countries about their role and mandate, FIMI activities can negatively impact the ability of the missions to attain their objectives. Threat actors also deploy FIMI to stoke resentment and at times violence, putting the lives of personnel at risk.

The EEAS supports EU CSDP missions and operations in their capability to address and counter FIMI. This is done by equipping the missions with the relevant instruments of the FIMI Toolbox, such as situational awareness, capacity building and advice.

Through countering FIMI, the EEAS promotes information integrity and fundamental freedoms. In its response to the FIMI threat, the EEAS goes beyond addressing disinformation and misleading narratives, focusing on the manipulative behaviour of FIMI actors.
The EEAS benefits from a decade’s worth of experience in combatting disinformation and FIMI. We have developed the EU FIMI Toolbox, adopting a whole-of-society approach, on four pillars: Situational awareness, resilience building, disruption & regulation and external action:

• We monitor and address Russia and China as FIMI actors; see the Russia and China sections above.
• To maintain situational awareness, we facilitate the Rapid Alert System (RAS), where we exchange and coordinate with all EU Member States and Institutions.
• We build resilience to FIMI by empowering civil society, supporting independent media and running capacity building projects.
• As the EU, we have developed strong legislation, notably the Digital Services Act.
• Internationally, we work with NATO and G7 countries and others. We harmonise our methodologies for detecting FIMI and are build tools for joint action such as the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM). We resolutely engage in external action to impose costs to malign FIMI actors through exposures, political attribution and sanctions.

The EEAS has initiated a standardised an analytical model that continues to evolve and shape the global understanding of the FIMI threat. This model has been adopted across the FIMI defenders community, including by government partners and NATO, fostering increased data exchange and collaboration, while driving whole-of-society responses to the threat.

At the heart of the EEAS’s approach is a methodology designed to detect FIMI activities according to comprehensive frameworks and taxonomies (such as the ABCDE Framework, TTPs catalogues and STIX data-sharing language). The model integrates narrative analysis with a focus on examining the Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) used by threat actors, to uncover how FIMI campaigns are structured, executed, and adapted over time.

Through its annual FIMI Threat Reports, produced by in-house data analysis experts, the EEAS progressively builds and refines its standardized analytical methodology, with each edition introducing a new layer of insights, tools, and frameworks.

As a part the EU’s diplomatic service, EEAS, diplomatic action is at the core of our approach to countering FIMI. We manage the Rapid Alert System, in which EU Member States and EU Institutions exchange information and coordinate responses to FIMI.

We contribute to developing restrictive measures (sanctions) targeting FIMI actors, notably Russia in the framework of the EU sanctions regimes in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Russia’s destabilising activities (hybrid threats).

We engage partners globally under the counter-FIMI agenda. We exchange information and coordinate political action with partners, including exposure of FIMI actors, notably in the framework of the G7 Collective Response Framework and with NATO. 
 

The EEAS seeks to strengthen societal resilience against FIMI through a whole-of-society approach placing information integrity at the core of its interventions.

Key activities are strategic communications and awareness raising, including by supporting independent media and fact-checking networks across the globe; capacity building for stakeholders, including tailored training, methodological support, and cross-sector collaboration for and with EU institutions, EU Member States and partners; empowerment of civil society, supporting transparency, accountability, and democratic resilience; and enhancement of digital, media, and information literacy, equipping societies with skills to critically assess information and detect manipulation techniques, mitigating the impact of FIMI. 

We are leading the effort to build a defender community facilitated by the Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (FIMI ISAC).

By integrating resilience-building measures into its broader approach, the EEAS contributes to long-term stability, institutional robustness, and democratic security in the face of the evolving FIMI threat.
 

Identity-based disinformation (IBD)-focused FIMI campaigns target vulnerable groups such as racial or ethnic minorities, LGBTIQ+ individuals, amplifying existing prejudices against them. Similarly, gendered disinformation campaigns targeting explicitly women and girls because of their gender, are a tool used to enforce silence and reinforce violence.

In order to detect and identify IBD, Open Source tools and methodologies give us the ability to carry in depth investigations by aggregating analysed data from diverse, publicly available sources. The resulting information, known as Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), is an indispensable tool in detecting and countering FIMI and obtaining more detail about these types of issue-specific attacks.

The EEAS has developed a guide, “How to Detect and Analyse Identity-Based Disinformation/FIMI: A Practical Guide to Conduct Open Source Investigations”, to enable analysts, victims and civil society organisations to carry these type of open source investigations (OSINT) and, ultimately, mitigate the impact of IBD-focused FIMI threats on democratic integrity.

This guide serves two goals: First, it enhances the OSINT community’s capacity to recognise and investigate identity-based aspects of disinformation. Second, it provides victims of identity-based FIMI with tools to detect and document those heinous attacks.