Dezinformatsiya (дезинформация) is the Russian term for disinformation, the deliberate spread of false or misleading information to deceive a target audience, especially foreign publics and governments. In Soviet practice it was one of the core tools of active measures (aktivnye meropriyatiya), alongside forgeries, front organizations, agents of influence, and covert media placements.

In 1959 the KGB’s First Chief Directorate created Department D to run disinformation, later expanded into Service A. Soviet-bloc services, including Czechoslovak and East German intelligence, built parallel units. Campaigns often began with a story planted in a small foreign publication, which was then amplified by Soviet media and sympathetic outlets worldwide. The best-documented example is the 1980s campaign claiming the U.S. military created the AIDS virus, which the U.S. State Department traced to a 1983 article in the Indian newspaper Patriot. Post-Soviet Russian services have continued these methods, adapted to the internet and social media.

Sources

• U.S. Department of State. Soviet Influence Activities: A Report on Active Measures and Propaganda, 1986-87. August 1987.
• Andrew, Christopher, and Vasili Mitrokhin. The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB. Basic Books, 1999.
• Rid, Thomas. Active Measures: The Secret History of Disinformation and Political Warfare. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2020.

Summary entry. A fuller, document-based profile is in preparation.