Russia uses social media to spread panic in Ukraine

Russian special services are using regular and social media to deliberately destabilize the situation in Ukraine, Security Council Chairman Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said at a press briefing following the emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (RNBO) on Thursday, August 28, reports Segodnya.ua. The specialized 18th center of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation is a special institution where nearly 1,500 people -- contractors and full-time employees -- work day and night in social media, using botnets to distribute electronic and SMS messages to electronic addresses and social networks. They  purposefully disseminate frightening messages designed primarily to provoke panic, to maintain it,  and to present false and misleading information," he said. According to Nalyvaichenko, Russian provocateurs with the help of Russian mass media are actively participating in this effort, especially the TV channels Zvezda (Star) and LifeNews. Nalyvaichenko also noted that in addition to the botnets, which have often been used to attack the mobile phones and electronic pages of Ukrainian politicians and deputies, the Russian special services are actively spreading panic through Facebook. "We have repeatedly appealed to the leadership and administrators of Facebook. Unfortunately, the administration of the Facebook used by our citizens is currently in Moscow, and the accounts of our citizens are often blocked and used to spread false and alarming information," he said. However, he said the Ukrainian government has completed negotiations with the Google company, which is taking steps to prevent the blocking of YouTube and other services that are used to present true information about Ukraine, including information about the crimes of the Russian military. As previously reported, a set of measures were adopted at the RNBO  meeting today to protect Ukraine's security. According to the RNBO  deputy secretary Mykhailo Koval, they included measures:  to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, to support the strategic priorities in foreign policy, to increase military capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the other military formations, to fully utilize the country's defense industry potential, and to ensure the cyber security of information in Ukraine. [hr]

segodnya, translated by Anna Mostovych