Russian propaganda spreads fake MI6 video to accuse Ukrainians abroad of 'terrorism'

Russian propagandists have fabricated a video allegedly from Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6 in an attempt to discredit Ukrainian refugees.

Russian Telegram channels are circulating a video purportedly released by MI6. In the clip, a supposed representative of the agency claims that last year Ukrainian refugees were involved in 80% of attempted terrorist attacks in France. The video alleges that because of the "actions" of Ukrainians abroad, all countries of the European Union and the United Kingdom are allegedly under threat.

This is a fake. The video spread by propagandists was edited from several unrelated clips. The first part of the video does indeed originate from official MI6 media resources, but it conveys an entirely different message and has nothing to do with Ukraine. The original video was published four months ago and features the former head of MI6, Richard Moore. The service is now headed by Blaise Metreweli. In the original footage, Moore addresses the public with a call to cooperate with British intelligence and provides general guidance for civilians amid terrorist threats.

The fake segment of the video, which mentions alleged "Ukrainian" terrorist activity, consists of a collection of unrelated photos and videos. It was added to the original clip using video-editing software. Most of these materials are not related to France, which Russian propagandists emphasize in their narrative. In particular, footage of the Eiffel Tower was taken from a promotional video by a Brazilian tourism company, while images of a mass gathering of Ukrainians come from a rally in Madrid in March 2022.

Thus, Russia continues its campaign to discredit Ukrainians in Europe in order to fuel anti-Ukrainian sentiment and promote fake narratives about the need to halt assistance to Ukraine and its citizens.

Russian propaganda has previously spread fake videos allegedly produced by Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, as well as by French outlets L'Equipe and Le Figaro, to discredit Ukrainians in France.

Andriy Olenin