No, Ukraine's shutdowns of Yandex data centers did not affect Russian influence operations.

No, Ukraine's shutdowns of Yandex data centers did not affect Russian influence operations.

Ukrainian attacks on Yandex data centers sparked viral claims of a sudden drop in Russian influence operations on social media, but experts and disinformation monitors say there is no evidence to support that.

Disinformation researchers tell the Kyiv Independent that viral charts showing a drop in Yandex "bots" actually measure search engine crawlers, while Moscow's influence networks largely rely on foreign proxy servers abroad.

Photo: Elena Chernishova/Bloomberg via Getty Images.