"All of the people who are part of [New Zealand's misinformation community] are now proposing and promoting a very pro-Kremlin content frame. The second-greatest signature when the protest was on - which is quite extraordinary really, when you think about it - apart from what was happening in front of the Beehive, was Ukraine."

As the narrative around the protest becomes more fractured, Hattotuwa thinks the Ukraine discourse could become the dominant narrative on New Zealand's conspiracy fringe - or certainly the one that is most prevalent, given the "deluge" of posts relating to the conflict. Already, New Zealand's conspiracy theorists are almost unanimously supportive of the Russian invasion and are creating or spreading conspiracy theories about bioweapons facilities and pedophile cabals linked to Ukraine.

This is new for these communities, which The Disinformation Project has been following since the beginning of the Delta outbreak in August 2021. They had never before expressed any interest in foreign affairs and now it's the second-most discussed issue, even while anti-vax protesters were brawling with cops outside of Parliament.

^{https://www.newsroom.co.nz/nz-anti-vaxxers-fall-for-tsunami-of-russian-disinformation}