WASHINGTON, D.C. — Russia has been spreading propaganda and disinformation to undercut support for Ukraine for at least a decade, according to U.S. and European officials. Several Republican House members said that propaganda was influencing fellow lawmakers and seeping into their rhetoric on Ukraine.

Russia is known to use a variety of tactics to spread its message, including outright lying, exaggerating or simply amplifying arguments already being made in the U.S. and Europe.

The misinformation is then spread by officials, state media, fake online accounts and English-language media outlets funded by the Kremlin.

Once the misinformation emerges in the public discourse, it can take on a life of its own, according to disinformation researchers. Finding the exact source of a false story or Russia-friendly narrative can be difficult to track down.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner, R-Ohio, said several Republican colleagues had echoed Russian propaganda points while discussing American aid for Ukraine.

“Russia has become very effective,” Turner said. “They’ve gone past the age of when you just had Russian propaganda to now where you have Russia taking their propaganda and inserting into popular media and discourse and social media. It is being picked up and persuading people and it is detrimental to the United States’ interests.”

In one example of disinformation, a story posted on an English-language Russian propaganda site falsely claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy used American aid money to buy two luxury yachts.

But the brokers selling the yachts said both vessels were still up for sale, the AP reported in December. The sales documents appear to be forged, according to BBC reporting.

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, referenced the false story in a December interview in which he argued against providing new support to Ukraine.

“There are people who would cut Social Security, throw our grandparents into poverty. Why? So that one of Zelenskyy’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht?” Vance said during the interview. “It’s not happening.”

In reference to the interview, Vance said he was speaking about Ukrainian government corruption in general.

“Zelenskyy, I don’t think, has bought aid. But certainly some ministers, some people who work in the Ukrainian government, have benefitted from corruption,” he said. “We know it’s a very corrupt country. Even the Biden administration admits that it has some corruption problems.”

Vance also denied being swayed by Russia-backed propaganda tactics.

“It reminds me of 2003 when anybody who raised skepticism of the Iraq War was accused of being in the pocket of Saddam Hussein,” Vance said. “If people think that my arguments on Ukraine and Russia are wrong, they ought to address the arguments head on and not accuse people of engaging in propaganda.”

Vance said he planned to vote against a $61 billion aid package for Ukraine that passed the House over the weekend, despite a majority of House Republicans opposed. 

Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, blamed Russian disinformation for dividing Republicans and delaying the House passage of Ukraine aid.

“We have around 15 to 20 members of Congress who actually don’t do their job and they don’t do their homework and they don’t do the education, and that is why they are misrepresenting the truth to the American people,” Miller said. “They are no better than these TikTok ‘experts’ that go on their phones and report mistruths. I happen to think that some of them truly have been compromised by Russia.”

The Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to pass the aid for Ukraine, as well as for Israel and Taiwan, sometime this week, paving the way for President Joe Biden to sign it into law.