In recent weeks, Russia has held a vast campaign to involve Ukrainians from the occupied territories to vote in the upcoming Duma elections, which is a clear violation of international law and yet another attack on the sovereignty of Ukraine. The pro-Kremlin media in Ukraine promoted this campaign and even published detailed instructions on how to vote in the Russian parliamentary elections for the residents of the occupied territories, thus normalizing the Kremlin’s illegal practice.
Quite a few pro-Kremlin media promoted the narrative that Ukraine was involved in the “sabotage” against Russia in the occupied Crimea. The Kremlin’s fake about Ukraine responsible for the explosion at a gas pipeline was used to frame Crimean Tatar activists, including the Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis Nariman Dzhelial, who previously took part in the Crimea Platform summit. The detentions were seen in Ukraine as revenge for the summit, successful despite all the Kremlin’s attempts to disrupt it. The “sabotage” narrative once again aided to portray Crimean Tatars as terrorists and discredit Ukraine.
In the light of the recently announced military aid to Ukraine from the US, the Kremlin’s proxies launched information attacks to undermine it, portraying the aid as useless in the conditions of war in the east of Ukraine. They especially target the idea of the US possibly transferring the Iron Dome defense system to Ukraine, although it has not even yet been confirmed officially. This operation is aimed at denigrating Washington’s military support and the US-Ukraine relations as such.