Russian-backed
separatists in Ukraine’s east have apparently tried to discredit international
monitors by planting a fake story about Russian soldiers.
In its
report for Aug. 2, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said
separatist fighters had introduced themselves as Russian servicemen,
immediately prompting an uproar in Ukrainian and Western media.
“An armed man guarding the facility at one of the sites claimed that he
and those present at the site were part of the 16th airborne brigade from
Orenburg, Russian Federation. They did not wear identifying insignia,” the
report read.
The information was widely circulated in Ukrainian and international
media and portrayed as proof of Russia’s involvement in Ukraine. According to
Ukraine’s Ministry of Information Politics, however, that is precisely what the
separatist fighters had been counting on.
“In regards to the information in the OSCE report for Aug. 2 about how
one of the armed terrorists identified himself and other Russian mercenaries as
‘part of the 16th airborne brigade from Orenburg – there is no such
brigade. So we believe that this may have been a planned information operation to
discredit Ukrainian media and the OSCE, or it may have just been the stupidity
of the Russian terrorists,” a statement on the ministry’s Facebook page
read.
If the ministry is right, it would suggest the Russian-backed
separatists have reverted to the old Soviet tactic of disinformation, or the deliberate spreading of false
information to dupe one’s enemy.
Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission
to Ukraine, could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.
Staff writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected]
