Vadym Skibitsky, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine

Ahead of the European Council meeting —critically important for securing sustainable funding for Ukraine over the next two years—Ukrinform’s correspondent spoke with Vadym Skibitsky, Deputy Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, in a blitz interview on the margins of the international forum “Resilient Europe,” focusing on countering Russian propaganda and disinformation machine.

After telling forum participants about how Russian special services recruit individuals—including through the capabilities of organizations such as Rossotrudnichestvo—citizens and officials from European countries, and about certain features of how the Russian propaganda machine operates, Major General Skibitsky shared with Ukrinform his view of the current focus of efforts by purveyors of Russian disinformation and harmful narratives—those on which Moscow is expected to concentrate the attention of target audiences both in Ukraine and across the entire European Union.

RUSSIA IS VERY AGGRESSIVELY USING ALL NARRATIVES TO AVOID LOSING ITS FROZEN ASSETS

- Against the backdrop of intense debates over the format of financial assistance to Ukraine for the next two years, it is clear that Russia is using aggressive intimidation tools to influence the government and the public in Belgium regarding the country’s stance on this important issue. Kaja Kallas recently noted that EU countries respond differently to Russia’s threats. In your view, are the aggressor’s efforts in this area having any success here and, more broadly, across Western Europe?

- You know, today’s forum is very timely, because Russia is indeed stepping up its efforts specifically on the European front. I say ‘the European front’ because this is a hybrid war being waged by the Russian Federation. During the event, I cited an example: whenever important events occur in our history—and especially events like those we are witnessing now on the battlefield or significant developments in the negotiation process—Russia immediately switches into action. And it does so in a targeted, deliberate way.”

One of the issues being discussed during the negotiation process concerns the frozen assets of the Russian Federation. And it is precisely this topic that Russia is covering in an extremely aggressive manner, using every possible narrative to prevent these assets from being used. For Russia, this is critical: it understands that it could lose them—but it must lose them. After all, the damage inflicted by the Russian Federation on our territory cannot be compensated by the funds that are currently kept frozen in Europe.”

And Europe must understand this. Everything our state built over many years—our national assets—is now being destroyed every day, every night.”

RECENTLY, APPROXIMATELY 40% OF THE CRUISE MISSILES LAUNCHED BY RUSSIA SIMPLY FAILED TO LEAVE THE AIRCRAFT

- One of the main themes Russia’s disinformation and propaganda machine is exploiting in the peace-talks track is the false claim that Ukraine has no chance of withstanding a military confrontation with the Russian Federation. Based on your impressions from communicating with international partners, are we conveying convincingly enough—particularly by striking targets deep inside Russian territory—that Russia is bluffing?”

 - It depends on how we present the information. And we do present it, in a very concrete way. For example, the Main Intelligence Directorate regularly publishes the results of our work to show that it is not only Russia that strikes us—we are also capable of delivering strikes that have a significant impact on the Russian Federation’s defense-industrial base, on the enterprises that sustain the conduct of the war.

As for how effective this is today, much depends on further development and on the capabilities and tools that we are already using.

But we see a different picture. We see Russia losing its potential—by which I mean its scientific and technological capacity. Missiles are no longer flying; accuracy is deteriorating. Attempts to bypass sanctions or replace foreign components through so-called import substitution are producing completely different results. For example, during recent strikes, approximately 40% of the cruise missiles launched by the Russian Federation simply failed to separate from the aircraft.”

And this is precisely because Russia is losing its potential. Today, we are ready to share with our partners our knowledge, our experience—everything that Ukraine has—in order to continue countering the Russian Federation. The battlefield is one dimension, but other measures only strengthen our capacity to resist and move toward victory.”

I HAVE A SIMPLE MESSAGE FOR OUR PARTNERS: WHAT HAPPENED IN PRAGUE DURING THE SOVIET ERA CAN HAPPEN AGAIN

- You mentioned assets, and that reminded me of a statement by our foreign minister, who said that Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is probably Russia’s most valuable frozen asset in Europe. How destructive, in your view, is Hungary’s open disregard for the EU’s common foreign and security policy?”

- You know, it takes time to understand this. It’s about a short-term sense of threat: it fades away, and then it reappears. But the threat from the Russian Federation is not going anywhere. I have a very simple message for our partners: let them remember what happened in Prague, let them remember what happened in other countries during the Soviet era. And this can happen again.”

- European officials expect further attempts by the Russian Federation to undermine Ukraine’s EU integration process in every possible way, since EU membership is meant to serve as a political pillar of Ukraine’s future security guarantees. How do you see the main risks in this area?”

- If we look at the European Union, Russia has used these narratives before, including in the new EU member states. One of them is the claim that Ukraine will lose its independence, that it will lose its agriculture, that its products will be banned—this is one of the narratives the Russian Federation has always used.

Other issues will revolve around a very simple narrative spread by Russian propaganda: that nothing is possible without Russia.”

Yevhen Matyushenko, Brussels