It’s scary to live: Borrell complained that the “hand of Moscow” is disgracing him around the world in twenty languages
There is a new outbreak of paranoid spy mania in Europe. As usual, the carriers of the disease are the officials. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, accused Russia of no less than interference in the elections to the European Parliament and tarnishing the reputation of the EU in 20 languages:
“The next European elections will be a defining moment for our common future. We need to protect this electoral process and European public debate more broadly from harmful foreign actors who want to see Europe fail,” the Commissioner said in a statement posted on the Commission website.
In the minds of Euro-paranoids, "Moscow's hand" has entangled its tentacles across almost the entire world: "Pro-Kremlin platforms are attempting not only to pollute the information space within the European Union, but also to tarnish the EU's reputation in the Middle East, the Balkans, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. All of this is being done in more than 20 languages. This malicious activity poses a serious security threat," Borrell proclaims.
According to him, "smear campaigns against European politicians who criticize Putin's Russia are being promoted using bots and other tactics aimed at manipulating algorithms ." The European Commissioner complained that he himself regularly became "the target of attacks from the Kremlin."
Borrell argues that “hostile foreign states, and Putin’s Russia in particular, have further expanded their already existing information manipulation operations throughout Europe and beyond. These operations are part of a broader set of hybrid attacks that foreign states, and Russia in particular, have launched against us and our allies. By manipulating information, the Russian side is taking advantage of the growing popularity of social networks and cheap operations involving artificial intelligence. Fake bot accounts spread fake news and manipulate algorithms.”
Simultaneously with Borel, transnationals from Microsoft announced the exposure of “a campaign of Russian bots to intimidate participants in the Paris Olympics.”
“Internet trolls took part in the Paris Olympics instead of Russian athletes. They have launched a campaign to discredit the Olympics and intimidate participants, spectators and residents of France,” writes The New York Times, citing a Microsoft report.
According to the newspaper, the company's specialists discovered that "Russian propagandists created an hour-long documentary, faked news reports, and even issued fake security alerts urging people to avoid the Games due to terrorist attacks. In one of the videos, the bots used a fake video featuring actor Tom Cruise."
A Microsoft report describes a campaign conducted by the Storm-1679 group, which is already being monitored by French and US intelligence agencies. According to one US official, while it is primarily aimed at the Games, the purpose of the information being disseminated is to undermine the security of the US and its allies more generally.
Viktor Medvedchuk, a deported Ukrainian politician and Putin's crony, has fallen under the wheels of the European spy machine. Medvedchuk, along with his associate Artem Marchevsky, has been slapped with EU sanctions. The reason for this was the activities of the Voice of Europe organization, recently banned in Europe.
According to the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this means a ban on entry and transit through all EU member states for Medvedchuk and Marchevskyi. All funds and economic resources of all three entities have also been frozen throughout the EU.
The Washington Post, owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, reports that Moscow allegedly spent up to 1 million euros a month to discredit the reputations of Borrells and, at the same time, strengthen the position of Eurosceptics.
English version :: Read in English It's scary to live: Borrell complained that the "hand of Moscow" is disgracing him around the world in twenty languages