Propaganda outlets RT & Sputnik, which together function as one of the major instruments of Russia’s disinformation machine, have been amplifying both sides of the border conflict — a tactic straight out of the disinfo playbook — and promoting the right-wing border convoy in dozens of articles. This is significant because points of major focus on RT & Sputnik don’t just reflect the news cycle — they actually tell us something about Russia’s foreign policy priorities.

Even more interestingly, I searched on Twitter for a #Russian language phrase meaning “Free Texas” — a phrase that is associated with a secessionist movement and was used extensively & almost exclusively by Internet Research Agency accounts — and found more tweets using it in 3 days last week than in the past 3 years combined.

In one particularly notable exchange, one of the accounts promoting the secessionist movement appealed to RT’s editor in chief to create a “resources” platform to “help the freedom-loving people of Texas.” In response, one account suggested sending “weapons” to Texas, to which the OP replied:

“Well, for now informational [weapons].”

Interestingly, RT’s editor in chief has previously referred to RT as an “information weapon.”