In Kyiv, SBU officers detected and terminated the activity of a group of agitprops, financed by Russia, who spread fakes about COVID-19 in Facebook.

SBU operatives established that two offenders were mentored by Russian side and published fakes about COVID-19 statistics in order to cause the panic, to discredit the governmental actions and to destabilize the social and political situation in Ukraine.

They actively used bots to spread COVID-19 fakes and collected all misinformation from the blocked Russian social networks. Mentors assigned the tasks in a closed group in VKontakte, where agitprops reported on their work.

The offenders anonymously received money via Russian e-wallets.

Currently, the offenders pleaded guilty and gave access to accounts in closed Internet communities. They also help to identify "curators".

Investigative actions are underway in order to identify Russian mentors and other potential accomplices involved in illegal activity.

We remind that during quarantine, the Security Service of Ukraine identified 81 persons who were spreading COVID-19 fakes, including 6 agitprops mentored by the Russian side.