Since the start of russia’s full-scale invasion, the Security Service of Ukraine has exposed 13 representatives of foreign mass media who produced ‘commissioned’ material for the kremlin propagandists. In their provocative ‘stories’, they published disinformation about the situation at the front and discredited Ukrainian military.

Basing on the material submitted by the SSU, they have been banned from entering Ukraine for 3 years.

The SSU has also neutralized over a dozen of bot farms with a total capacity of over 100,000 fake accounts. They acted on the territory of Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Ternopil, Poltava, Vinnytsa, Zakarpattia and Zaporizhzhia. Through them, the enemy spun destructive and untrue narratives to destabilize the situation.

The results of the SSU’s activity include exposing hundreds of Internet agents who acted in favor of the occupiers as well as blocking of over 5,500 accounts. These agents and accounts were used to spread disinformation and support russia’s military aggression.

One of the recent operations resulted in neutralizing an extensive agent network of russian special services that was coordinated from the Crimea.

The group included pseudo-journalists and so-called ‘experts’, who were paid by russian handlers for their work. They acted under the cover of a web-site that had been created under the FSB’s supervision in the occupied Crimea.

Through their ‘publications’, the propagandists imposed pro-kremlin views on the events in Ukraine. The manipulative material was published as ‘analytical reviews’ and interviews with so-called ‘opinion leaders’.

The group was most active on the eve of official meetings with foreign partners – in an effort to discredit Ukraine on international arena.

The SSU established that the group was run by a ‘chief editor’ from the Crimea, who posed as a ‘political scientist’ and an ‘expert on energy’. He repeatedly spread pro-kremlin content through popular Telegram channels.

Currently, the suspect is hiding in the temporarily occupied territory. The SSU investigators have notified him, in absentia, of suspicion of committing crimes.

The Security Service of Ukraine will continue to counter russian propaganda.