Russia intensifying campaign to discredit Ukraine in Middle East - defense intel
That’s according to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, Ukrinform reports.
The goal of the latest hybrid operation run by Russia is to justify their war of aggression, to discredit Ukraine and Western democracies, impose unacceptable terms of negotiations, solidify their position in the region; and reduce economic and political pressure put on Moscow over its aggression and of war crimes, emphasized the agency.
In order to achieve these goals, Russia makes extensive use of its intelligence network, propaganda tools, and diplomatic missions.
Thus, employees of the Russian embassy in Egypt received from the Kremlin the instructions to hold a series of meetings under diplomatic cover to spread disinformation about the war and recruit human intelligence assets.
Also, within the scope of the ongoing operation, the Russians are circulating propaganda materials across foreign embassies in Cairo – to justify waging a war against Ukraine, the intelligence said.
One allegedly exposes “the role of the West in the conflict in Ukraine" and the other gives Russia’s distorted view of “the situation around Ukraine”.
The specified materials present Putin's version of Ukraine’s history since the collapse of the Soviet Union, whereas “terroristic aggressor Russia is portrayed as a victim," the agency emphasized.
The key idea the Kremlin is promoting in the Middle East is that there is no alternative to the end-of-war scenario to the one imposed by Moscow. It includes depriving Ukraine of military aid from the West, forcing the Ukrainian defense forces to cease hostilities, securing Moscow's control of temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and "other nonsense such as "permanent non-aligned status", "de-Nazification" and "demilitarization" of Ukraine, the defense intelligence agency reports.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, referring to Reuters, Russia is illegally consolidating its control over temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories by creating a "climate of fear" through arbitrary arrests, killings, and torture. That’s according to the UN human rights monitors.
