Russia conducts an informational operation against Ukraine

In the context of intensifying the spread of anti-Ukrainian narratives by representatives of the “Smer-SD” party as part of the pre-election campaign in the early parliamentary elections to the Parliament of the Slovak Republic, signs of an information operation in the information space of Ukraine were revealed.

Thus, on August 31, 2023, the website www.glavcom.ua with a link to the website www.theneweuropean.co.uk published the article “The candidate for the prime minister of Slovakia calls Ukrainians fascists (photos 1, 2)”.

Photo 1,2.

As of 6:00 p.m. (local time) on August 31, 2023, despite the absence of any mention in the Slovak mass media of information about the placement in the city of Bratislava of posters of the leader of the “Smer-SD” party R. Fico with anti-Ukrainian slogans, in particular “NATO , stop arming the Kyiv regime” and “Ukrainian fascism will not pass” (photos 1, 2), the mentioned material gained wide publicity among representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora and confidential sources in the city of Bratislava (Slovak Republic), in particular, as confirmation of the truth of the rumors, they were actively spread only 2 photos published by www.glavcom.ua.

At the same time, as of 01:00 (local time) on September 1, 2023, no posters of the leader of the “Smer-SD” party R.Fitso with the aforementioned anti-Ukrainian slogans were found in Bratislava. There are no mentions of the above mentioned in the information space of Slovakia. Publications on the official page of R.Fico in the social network Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/robertficosk) and the website of the party “Smer-SD” (https://www.strana-smer.sk/) were not made public.

It is worth noting that the above-mentioned posters are made using different fonts in different designs and without following a single standard for the “Smer-SD” party visual campaign (photos 3, 4).

Photo 3,4 (taken on September 1, 2023 in Bratislava).

In addition, the provocative posters use a processed photo of R.Fitso from open sources (photo 5) in contrast to the approved photo of the official election campaign (photo 3).

Photo 5

In these conditions, the information operation can be aimed at provoking a sharp reaction of Ukrainian society, as well as the top state leadership of Ukraine and mass media with the aim of further aggravating bilateral relations between Ukraine and Slovakia and further mobilizing voters of the “SMER-SD” party based on anti-Ukrainian sentiments.

At the same time, there were no signs of the aforementioned information operation in the information space of Slovakia.