Leaked documents show: Spread panic and fear in the West
Russia's invasion of Ukraine Leak: Russian plan to create fear and panic in the West John Edgar
Published 00.40
Leaked documents show the Russian goal to spread fear and panic in the West. Photo: Vladimir Smirnov / AP
The plan began with an emailed document called "propaganda".
A number of Russian security services have cooperated towards a common goal:
Create fear and panic in the West.
Quick versionThe mastermind behind the Russian disinformation attack on the West is a "bald 45-year-old" in the Russian intelligence service SVR.
This is stated by the independent Russian news site The Insider, which together with the German Der Spiegel reviewed leaked emails from within the Russian security services.
"Propaganda"
They now reveal that plans for an offensive called "Project Kylo" began a few months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The goal was to reduce support for Ukraine by creating fear, panic and a sense of terror in the population of the country's allies in the West.
A large part of "Project Kylo" involved turning people against Ukrainian refugees.
The original document is a word file named "propaganda" that Mikhail Kolesov emailed to himself on May 23, 2023.
Increase efficiency
Three days later, he was to lead a debate in the Russian Senate on the theme of "information war with the West", writes The Insider.
The 45-year-old intelligence officer was previously stationed in Afghanistan, but had now been tasked with helping the Kremlin get out propaganda that helped Russian aims more effectively.
According to the leaked documents, it was believed that previously state-controlled bodies such as the TV channel RT "showed almost zero effectiveness for decades", writes The Insider.
At the same time, people were concerned about how pro-Ukrainian views basically completely dominated social platforms in the West.
The project would change that with the help of a "systematic, targeted and offensive" strategy mainly on social media.
Hijacked activist groups
Among other things, they suggested fake ads disguised as news links where the person who clicks on ends up "in an internet environment controlled by us".
German authorities have identified more than two dozen "news sites" written in fluent German with headlines such as "How Ukrainians Destroy Economic Prosperity in Germany."
These are seen as part of the Russian disinformation campaign.
One method Kolesov advocated was to flood social media with calls for exaggerated and outrageous demands for aid for Ukrainian refugees, so that the public would turn against them.
Hijacking activism from within to discredit the cause is a well-proven method of the Russian security services, according to The Insider.
The Riksdag building in Berlin. Photo: Christoph Soeder / AP
"Panic and Terror"
According to the email conversations between Kolesov and other people within the SVR, groups were to be recruited within the various target countries.
Video clips would be published on platforms such as YouTube and shortened for publication on Tiktok.
According to the documents, they would also develop software to be able to follow how well the intelligence service's insidious posts were clicked and how long the various videos had been watched.
"The main theme of our campaign in Western countries aims to instill the strongest emotion in the human psyche - fear," writes Kolesov in an email, according to The Insider.
"The fear of the future, uncertainty about tomorrow, the inability to make long-term plans. Working with these emotions fills an individual's subconscious with panic and terror."
Coordinated effort
According to The Insider, plans were coordinated with other Russian security services GRU (the military intelligence service) and FSB (the internal security service).
The Insider writes that in the spring of 2023 people were recruited for various positions within "Project Kylo".
The extent of the misinformation and how much of the plans have become reality is not apparent from the data in the review.
According to The Insider, a number of other operations in the West appear to be coordinated with the project.
The site refers, among other things, to hired demonstrators who are said to have protested against arms shipments to Ukraine in a number of capitals
The site refers, among other things, to hired demonstrators who are said to have protested against arms shipments to Ukraine in a number of capitals in the West.
In Paris, three men placed coffins in front of the Eiffel Tower with French flags and the message "French soldiers in Ukraine" written on them.
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