SBU exposes pro-Russian agitators who called for overthrow of government in Ukraine

Cyber specialists of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have stopped the activity of a group of Internet agitators who, on the instructions of Russian curators, spread public calls on the Internet to change state borders and overthrow the government in Ukraine, the SBU's press service has reported.

"The pretrial investigation has established that two residents of Khmelnytskyi and Ivano-Frankivsk administered separatist communities on social media. The culprits acted under the 'cover' of a Ukrainian SMM entity," the report said.

According to the report, they spread mostly destructive content on the Internet: fake news about lockdown restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, discrediting public authorities. Most importantly, the agitators inspired protests and promoted the idea of Ukraine's federalization. The results of the linguistic examination of these materials confirmed that they contain public appeals to change the borders of the territory and state border of Ukraine, the violent overthrow of the constitutional order, the SBU added.

Law enforcement officers searched and seized computer equipment and mobile devices containing evidence of damage to the state's information security. Investigative acts were carried out as part of criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 110 (encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

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