https://t.me/rybarde/9119
Witch hunt: provocations against pro-Russian journalists in the West
The hunt for Western journalists who do not agree with the anti-Russian agenda of the mainstream has adopted new methods.
Our colleague, journalist Laura Ruggeri @LauraRuHK, reported that some of her colleagues had received an email purporting to be from the Russian Foreign Ministry. The message, signed by Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the agency, contained an offer to cooperate on a certain special project about Russia.
The ministry promised financial support in response to the proposals for honest reporting on the events in Ukraine and educating the pro-Russian views in the public.
The Russian Embassy in Italy has already confirmed to colleagues that the letter is a fake. In principle, this is already clear from the spelling of the name of the Russian official. On the letter there is Marija instead of Maria, as the Italians are used to.
Interestingly, only a month ago, about the same faux pas was committed with a fake throw-in about Serbian ammunition in Ukraine. At that time, our colleagues @balkanossiper and @rybar told us that the authors of the objection also misspelled the name.
They spread the information that the Serbian "Defense Minister Vukovic" had allegedly confirmed arms deliveries to Ukraine and that Serbia had made them under pressure from the EU. However, there is no Minister Vukovic in the Serbian government. The name of the Minister of Defense is Milos Vucevic, and he has not made any such statements.
It is true that in addition to the tempting offer, which allegedly came from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Western journalists also received other attractive offers, but on behalf of Russian TV channels. One of the IP addresses from which such a letter was sent was located in Finland.
In addition, one of the "offers" came from the Moscow branch of the British recruitment agency Michael Page. However, the latter withdrew from the Russian market in 2015. The company justified this decision by the fact that the Russian economy is slipping into a recession.
Such dubious letters to European journalists can serve various purposes: from loyalty checks and subsequent discrediting for "ties with the Kremlin" to standard phishing to steal the personal data of unwanted people.
In any case, both we and our colleagues should remember that not only someone with pro-Russian views can be exposed to provocations, but also someone who has been in the neutral zone.
High-resolution infographic
English version
France "doubling" 155mm artillery shell deliveries to Ukraine to 2,000 per month
Witch hunt: provocations against pro-Russian journalists in the West
Interestingly, only a month ago, about the same faux pas was committed with a fake throw-in about Serbian ammunition in Ukraine. At that time, our colleagues @balkanossiper and @rybar told us that the authors of the objection also misspelled the name.
It is true that in addition to the tempting offer, which allegedly came from the Russian Foreign Ministry, Western journalists also received other attractive offers, but on behalf of Russian TV channels. One of the IP addresses from which such a letter was sent was located in Finland.