Bulgarian is involved in a Russian misinformation campaign against Ukraine
« The spread of a false narrative, fake news with manipulative content undermines confidence in our institutions and threatens social rapprochement, » said Secretary of State Joerg Lychtfried. The spread of misinformation has the potential to influence election, to promote political instability and to endanger the democratic society, he adds.
The leader of the « Bulgarian spies » has suggested to abduct Hristo Grozev in Bulgaria
| The Directorate has succeeded in accessing data holders seized during a search of the home of the suspect Bulgarian in December. The investigation revealed that just a few weeks after the beginning of the Russian aggressive war against Ukraine in February 2022, « a cell working for the Russian secret services has become activated. In early 2022, this cell planned a large -scale misinformation campaign in the German -speaking countries. » |
The purpose of this cell was to use purposeful actions in the context of the war and to influence public opinion so as to set the society against Ukraine and Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski, thus leading to the creation of pro-Russian sentiment, which would reach higher levels in the countries.
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« To achieve this, the cell has resorted to activities in both the media landscape on the Internet and, figuratively speaking, offline, for example through stickers or graffiti » with right -winged symbolism and nationalist statements. The purpose of the cell was to give the impression that research activists were the initiators of the campaign.
- The analysis of the seized data carriers during the search of the home, the suspected Bulgarian woman, based on the chat, found that the role of the suspect Bulgarian was significant.
- According to the information available at the moment, she was a person to contact intelligence. It is also possible that Russian intelligence services have entrusted her with the spread of such materials in Germany and Austria.
- The suspect has documented the actions taken. These documentation has also been submitted to accomplices from Russia and the United Kingdom.
| The suspect has admitted that she acted for the benefit of the cell, mainly in 2022, according to the Austria Interior Ministry, quoted by the APA. |
