Ottawa, Ontario – Global Affairs Canada
Today, the G7 RRM Secretariat issued the following statement:
“The G7 RRM strongly condemns the reported information operations which sought to manipulate public perception in relation to the detection of an initially unidentifiable aerial object over Polish airspace, following Russian military activity over western Ukraine in the early hours of July 30.
“According to the Government of Poland’s investigations, the information operations were amplified by a network of online accounts known as the Pravda Network (or Portal Kombat), known to spread manipulated content favourable to Russia’s political aims. The speed of dissemination suggests a high level of preparedness to exploit the security incident. These information operations, while of limited effectiveness, included fabricated insider “leak” claims designed to erode trust by impersonating trusted local sources.
“Central themes of the information operations reportedly include speculations of Poland’s role in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, attempts at deflecting Russia’s responsibility for the incident, undermining trust in Polish institutions and NATO, and creating a sense of uncertainty in an effort to undermine public support for Ukraine.
“Official investigations by local authorities later confirmed that the object was a cruise missile manufactured near Moscow. Malign actors are seeking to abuse periods of uncertainty by spreading unsubstantiated explanations and presenting conjecture as established fact.
“The G7 RRM will continue to monitor the information environment and shine a light on foreign threats to democracies, so that uncertainty over cross-border security incidents cannot be exploited.”
