Russian propagandists are spreading false narratives about an alleged “conflict” between the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Office of the President, and the Ministry of Defense, Deputy Minister of Defense, Hanna Maliar, said on her Facebook page on Aug. 17.
This narrative was first revealed by Ukraine’s SBU security service, which on Aug. 2 announced that it had exposed an organized group that had created a powerful bot farm to discredit the leadership of Ukraine. Bots, among other things, distributed content about an alleged conflict between the leadership of the President’s Office and the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
According to Maliar, this narrative is entirely false.
The deputy minister said that the tactical goal of an operation like this one is to spread the invader’s idea and to manipulate the perception of events. The operational goal is to create a conflict within the leadership of Ukraine and Ukrainian society, while the strategic goal is to weaken the center of state decision-making as well as the nation’s defensive and offensive potential.
“To put it simply, if we all quarrel among ourselves, it is easier to break and conquer us,” explains Maliar.
“This is what the enemy wants to achieve. Often, manipulative messages during informational warfare attract a person’s attention with their blatant headlines, which certainly cause an explicit emotional reaction.”
According to an NV source in law enforcement agencies, the European Solidarity party is involved with this bot farm. The party denied this accusation and called these allegations a political provocation.