Russia uses Zelensky’s conflicts with opponents to its advantage: investigation of “Schemes”
The Russian “Agency of Social Design” (ASD), headed by political technologist Ilya Gambashydze, working on behalf of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, is actively using the strained relations between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and other political figures to destabilize the situation in Ukraine. Among the figures of this campaign are former President Petro Poroshenko, former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko. About this informs journalistic project “Schemes” from Radio Svoboda.
As part of the international journalistic consortium, “Schem” journalists got access to the internal documents of the ASD, which is under EU and US sanctions. These documents, provided by the German media Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, WDR and the Estonian publication Delfi, confirm that the agency’s activities are controlled by the Kremlin. Some of the documents were published by American law enforcement agencies in September.
Journalists discovered instructions for promoting disinformation campaigns. One of the documents, marked with the hashtag “do-reality” (augmented reality), suggested organizing fake leaks of negotiations of military units to discredit the leadership of Ukraine and spread information about the alleged resignation of Valery Zaluzhny. The aim was to create the impression that President Zelensky had lost support among military officers.
After the resignation of Zaluzhny from the position of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the ASD planned to spread narratives such as: “If Zaluzhny had been there, Avdiivka would not have been surrendered.” In addition, the campaign called “Who are you for?” actively contrasted Zelenskyi with Zaluzhny and Klitschko, using infographics, memes and caricatures for Ukrainian and European audiences.
The ASD was also engaged in the fabrication of official documents, in particular the forgery of an order on behalf of the commander of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi, in which surrender was equated with treason. According to analysts, the purpose of this disinformation was to discredit the Ukrainian leadership and demoralize the Ukrainian military.
Working with a dozen European newsrooms as part of the “Fake Factory” initiative, the “Scheme” project investigated thousands of files, finding that the ASD was spreading disinformation to discredit Ukraine and its allies, as well as Western leaders who support Ukraine.
