The ugliest argument about propaganda begins like this: “But the pictures are real.”

Yes. The pictures from Ceuta are real. The migration surge at the end of July 2026 was real. People crossed by land and sea; reception capacity buckled; people died. Le Monde reported tens of thousands of arrivals in a single day and a political confrontation spanning Madrid, Rabat and European capitals.

That reality does not disprove propaganda. It is the raw material.

Reality is not a vaccine against manipulation

Propaganda is not limited to inventing a photograph in a basement. It also selects true images, strips away context, repeats them at scale and orders the audience to draw one predetermined conclusion: invasion, replacement, European collapse, traitorous elites.

Spain’s own annual national security report describes exactly this vulnerability. It says pro-Kremlin ecosystems activate opportunistically during crises and exploit the migration–security connection around Ceuta and Melilla to intensify insecurity and social conflict.

The infrastructure is not imaginary either. The EEAS identifies Pravda, also known as Portal Kombat, as a prolific Russia-aligned manipulation network. Maldita’s investigation found Spanish-language Pravda sites publishing at industrial volume and recycling material from RT, Sputnik and Telegram. EU DisinfoLab documented the same ecosystem flooding the 2025 Torre Pacheco unrest with almost 300 items in five days.

That history matters because the current defensive line is already visible: Kyiv is supposedly “blaming Russia for reporting Europe’s migrant meltdown.” It is a clever dodge. It replaces the actual accusation—coordinated amplification and manipulative framing—with a ridiculous one—Russia invented every migrant and every camera.

What we can prove, and what we cannot

Ukraine’s foreign minister has reportedly claimed that more than 1,500 pro-Russian publications used Ceuta footage, including nearly 300 from Spanish-language Pravda and dozens across RT editions. That would be a significant current dataset.

Nowpinion has not independently reproduced the exact total. We therefore do not present 1,500 as our verified count. The established network, its Spanish-language operation, its prior exploitation of migration crises and a current example of the narrative are verified. The precise July tally remains an attributed claim.

We also found no evidence that Russia created the movement of people into Ceuta. Reporting points instead to court rulings, smuggling networks, Moroccan border policy, unemployment and diplomatic tension. Those causes deserve investigation in their own right.

This is not timid qualification. It is the line that makes the accusation stronger: Russia did not need to create the crisis to use it.

Do not hand the story to the amplifier

Europe can hold several true ideas at once. Ceuta faced a real emergency. Border and asylum policy can fail. Citizens may demand control. Migrants remain human beings rather than props. And an adversarial information ecosystem can turn the same event into a machine for panic and hatred.

The propaganda move is to forbid that complexity. Either you accept the “invasion” script, or you are accused of denying your own eyes.

Nonsense. We can see the crisis and the amplifier at the same time.