Russian propaganda conducts a disinformation campaign "Doppelganger" in the West.

The Russian "Agency for Social Analysis and Forecasting" (ASAP) created the disinformation campaign "Doppelganger", which the Kremlin ordered to influence democratic countries. This information was obtained by the International Journalistic Consortium while investigating ASAP's archives. According to the documents, this propaganda "factory" developed plans to influence the elections to the European Parliament, as well as elections in the USA, France, Germany, Ukraine, Italy, Israel, and Latvia.

An analysis of ASAP documents showed that in the first four months of 2024, the agency created 34 million bots, which left comments and published content on social networks. The campaigns were planned and systematic: first, the propagandists examined the information space of the countries, identified key players and messages that should be amplified. After this, a content plan was drawn up, and the trolls started their "work".

In the case of Latvia, ASAP prepared a Background document, which reviewed the situation and proposed plans to influence society. One of these plans aimed to change Latvia's values in favor of Russia through a "peaceful social revolution". The start of this operation was planned for the second half of 2022.

ASAP documents also consider the reaction of the Russian-speaking population of Latvia to the events in Ukraine. According to the propagandists' estimates, at first, these events were popular among Russian-speaking Latvians, but now they are supported only by "the poor, uneducated, and anti-vaxxers". ASAP also notes that Latvians of Russian descent do not have political leaders, with the positive exception being the Mayor of Daugavpils, Andrey Elksnins, who spoke out against the dismantling of Soviet monuments.

ASAP also proposed to incite hatred among Russian-speaking Latvians towards refugees from Ukraine, pointing out that the newcomers are in a privileged position. They also planned to conduct the campaign "We are also refugees" so that Russian speakers would demand social equality, considering themselves refugees in Latvia after the collapse of the USSR.