Ukraine's Defence Intelligence believes Russia tracked all reactions to reports of Putin's death
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Andrii Yusov, a representative of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, has suggested that Russians who reacted on social media to fake reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s death will face punishment.
Source: Andrii Yusov, representative of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence, on the Ukrainska Pravda talk show on 3 November
Quote: "We must understand that this is a Russian story, a Russian campaign. Of course, the secret services photographed, literally screenshotted, all public reactions, comments, likes – and soon someone will probably come for some of those who put smiley-face emojis under messages about Putin's death."
Details: Yusov believes that Russian propagandists participated, though not necessarily directly, in spreading the idea of the Russian dictator’s death, even as they refuted it.
Background:
Some anonymous Russian Telegram channels reported that Putin had died on the evening of 26 October, after which the Russian Federation allegedly began preparing for a coup because a body double of his was about to be presented to the public.
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defenсe Council, suggested that the Russian fake news reports about "Putin's death" were part of the preparations for his presidential campaign.
Danilov stressed that the Russian dictator will die sooner or later, but Putin's death is not enough to bring about change in Russia, and a lot more needs to happen.
Andrii Yusov of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence stated that the fake news about Putin's death was intended to test the reactions of ordinary Russians, elites and propaganda, and was also a tool for influencing Putin himself and part of the Russian secret services’ playbook.
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