About the project
Syto's methodology: what we analyse, how we vet sources, and what's behind every narrative card.
What we do
Syto tracks the cognitive war — Russia's systematic effort to shape public consciousness through information manipulation. We read three kinds of source — Telegram channels, X accounts, and outlets' RSS feeds — surface recurring strategic messages, and publish them as narrative cards with an explanation of the manipulation and counter-messaging tools.
Our core unit of analysis is the narrative: a persistent strategic claim pushed across dozens of channels at once. We track narratives, not individual posts — and we show how they evolve over time. We aim to catch a narrative within its first few appearances, before it spreads — and every card states how many sources and posts already stand behind it.
For each narrative we show: what exactly is being claimed, which propaganda technique is used, what real grievance the message exploits — and how to counter it effectively. We also track who each narrative targets: Ukrainians at home, military families, Western publics, American voters, the British public, and others.
Five focuses, six lenses
The work is split into five focuses — by the subject the narratives are about. Inside each focus sit its lenses, defined not by source type but by intended audience:
- Ukraine — Russia's campaign around the war, across two lenses: in Ukraine (Telegram channels and accounts delivering anti-Ukraine narratives inside the country) and in the West (English-language outlets carrying the same narratives to Western audiences).
- USA — Russian state and proxy sources (X and RSS) targeting American voters around the 2026 midterm elections. A single lens.
- United Kingdom — the same Russian structures, addressed to British audiences: migration, trust in Britain's own institutions, and the cost of its support for Ukraine. A single lens.
- Germany — the same Russian structures, addressed to audiences in Germany in German and in Russian: the East–West divide, energy and industry, the migration wedge, and the September 2026 state elections. A single lens.
- Poland — the only focus with two states in it: Russian and Belarusian sources addressing Polish audiences on refugees, historical memory and the cost of supporting Kyiv. A single lens.
The same narrative can appear in several lenses simultaneously — but with different framing and persuasion tactics tailored to each audience.
The method
Shared across the whole product — identical in every focus.
- How it works — the multi-agent pipeline: ingestion, analysis, time windows, and limitations.
- Propaganda techniques — the 18 techniques we detect, with definitions.
- Source vetting — the inclusion rule and the three attribution tiers (T1–T3).
By focus
Each focus states what it admits, and lists in full what we read.
- Ukraine — the direction test for anti-Ukraine narratives, plus the rosters for Ukraine and the West.
- USA — midterms monitoring, the source roster, and the cross-flank convergence method.
- United Kingdom — the direction test for British audiences, the two precision limits, and the roster.
- Germany — the direction test for audiences in Germany, where the admission bar sits and who is deliberately absent, and the roster.
- Poland — the direction test for Polish audiences, why Belarus is named separately, and the roster.