For several months, Russia has been developing an information campaign to discredit the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, and to try to split the Ukrainian political and military leadership. Thus, by order of the administration of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, the Russians used social networks and fake publications to promote the idea that President Zelensky is "hysterical and weak."
The Washington Post writes about this with reference to more than 100 documents from the Russian Kremlin, which journalists received.
In January 2023, Deputy Head of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation Serhii Kiriyenko ordered the launch of a disinformation campaign on social networks, aimed both at Europe and directly at destabilizing society in Ukraine. The Russians identified four key goals: discrediting the military and political leadership of Ukraine, splitting the Ukrainian elite, demoralizing the Ukrainian troops, and disorienting the Ukrainian population.
At the behest of the Kremlin, bots created thousands of publications on social networks, in which they tried to convince Ukraine and Western countries of the tension between President Zelenskyi and the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny. In this way, Russia tried to undermine Western support for Ukraine.
The Russians wanted to measure the success of the campaign by key indicators, in particular by the decrease in the ratings of "key people" in the Office of the President, in the Ukrainian government and in the command of the Armed Forces. They also wanted to convince Ukrainians that the top management of the country "works only for themselves", and thus cause political conflicts in Ukraine. In order to demoralize Ukrainian society, the Russians exaggerated losses among the Ukrainian military.
Among the materials created by the Russians is a post on Facebook that the family of the fallen soldier allegedly did not receive any help from the state. The publication has more than two million views. A fake video on the Telegram social network also became popular, where, in order to disorient the population, it was announced that the main goal of the war for the Ukrainian authorities was "to fight to the last Ukrainian." WP writes that botfarm workers were paid approximately $660 per month for writing 100 comments per day.
One of the senior officials in the field of European security, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity, believes that "the most difficult times are ahead."
"Russia has survived and is preparing a new campaign, which consists of three main directions: first, pressure on the front line; secondly, attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure; and thirdly, this destabilization campaign , " writes The Washington Post.