The Russian information operation "Maidan 3", about which Volodymyr Zelensky said, is aimed at inciting enmity, exacerbating contradictions in Ukraine, as well as spreading fear and panic. Russia allocated almost $250 000 for it. It was conducted with the help of Telegram.
A representative of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (also known as GUR) told Babel about this.
According to him, this is Russiaʼs most expensive campaign since 2014 and the Revolution of Dignity, on which the Russians spent tens of millions of dollars to discredit.
Information and information-psychological operations are carried out by units created in all Russian special services, in particular in the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and the Federal Security Service, as well as under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Putin administration.
For example, the first deputy of Putinʼs administration Serhiy Kiriyenko is responsible for the fall-winter destabilization project in Ukraine. Also, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Vladyslav Surkov, who used to be the ideologist of the so-called "Novorossiya" project, is participating in the Kremlinʼs plan to shift the emphasis from the external threat to internal contradictions in Ukraine.
- In mid-November, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Russians seek to sow division in Ukrainian society, create chaos within the country and, ultimately, remove the president. And called this campaign "Maidan 3".