ANNA News
ANNA News (Analytical Network News Agency) is a Russian pro-Kremlin[14] news agency.[15] The agency's name ANNA used to stand for "Abkhazian Network News Agency"; after the head office moved to Moscow, when registering in Roskomnadzor on 22 September 2017,[16] "Abkhazian" was changed to "Analytical".
Industry
Content[edit]
According to U.S. intelligence officer T. S. Allen, Pascal Andresen and the Ukrainian magazine Political Life, it is engaged in influence operations and is a propaganda tool.[41][42][43] According to The Moscow Times newspaper, it has a 'forceful pro-Assad slant.'[1] Professor of Arabic language and civilisation Stéphane Valter writes that the way the news agency diffuse their images "clearly indicates a bias in favour of the Syrian regime."[44]
In June 2014, ANNA News falsely claimed that political advisor Jen Psaki had been fired from the US State Department.[45] In the fall of 2014, the agency published a fake photo of several dead people who were allegedly killed by the Ukrainian authorities.[46]
On 5 January 2017, ANNA News falsely claimed that the jihadist organisation Al-Nusra Front, which fought against the Syrian authorities, calls the White Helmets volunteer organisation "soldiers of the revolution".[47]
In February 2017, ANNA News claimed that Ukraine was the source of a leak of radioactive iodine-131. The news agency did not provide any evidence.[48][49][50]
In late 2017, ANNA News journalist Oleg Blokhin based in Syria created staged photos to substantiate the existence of a fake private military company Turan.[2][51][52] After it was discovered that the photos were fake, ANNA removed all of Blokhin materials from its website.[53] Oleg Blokhin categorically rejected the claims of Russian research group Conflict Intelligence Team that the PMC Turan, fighting in Syria, is a fiction created by him.[54] He also mentioned that neither he nor ANNA News have ever released information about "Turan", since he doesn't comment on information of any Russian units in Syria at all.[55]
