Ukraine says Russia preparing new disinformation campaign to destabilise country

Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service says it has obtained a number of Russian documents indicating preparations for efforts to destabilise the situation in Ukraine and undermine international support for the country.

Source: press service for the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine

Details: According to the agency, the administration of Russian ruler Vladimir Putin has instructed intelligence services, the Foreign Ministry and Russian media outlets to intensify a media campaign in both the Ukrainian and European public discourse.

Among the issues reportedly included in the Kremlin's "agenda" is preventing the "media scandal surrounding A. Yermak and the interview with Y. Mendel" from fading into the background. The intelligence service reported that the Kremlin considers the issue important but believes it has been pushed out of European discourse by international events, including developments in Iran.

The Russian agenda combines separate issues used in Kremlin-linked narratives: the fact that Andrii Yermak, former head of the Ukrainian President's Office, has been named a suspect in a major corruption case, and a 12 May interview by former Ukrainian presidential press secretary Yuliia Mendel, in which she made unsubstantiated claims about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and senior officials.

The Foreign Intelligence Service says Russia's "media plan" envisages creating forged documents designed to resemble those issued by Ukrainian authorities and leaking them publicly in order to provoke a public reaction.

Russian propaganda media outlets have also been tasked with creating mouthpieces – individuals who would take part in the disinformation campaign. The intelligence service says Russia plans to involve former Ukrainian officials, political figures and experts in these efforts.

"Starting today, we are already recording the first attempts by Russia to act according to the new scenario not only in Ukraine, but also abroad," the intelligence service said.

Separate documents reportedly indicate that more than 15 proxy media outlets are expected to be involved in spreading the campaign exclusively within Western public discourse. Among the outlets mentioned are L'Antidiplomatico, Magyar Nemzet, První Zprávy and CZ24.news. The list is reportedly incomplete and still awaiting approval by the Kremlin administration.

"The materials obtained by the Foreign Intelligence Service indicate that Russia plans to further intensify the campaign, expand destructive narratives and scale up both the audience and geographical reach of dissemination," the intelligence service added.

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