The Security Service of Ukraine exposed a man who promoted the Russian world in the de-occupied Kharkiv region, spokesman for the SSU Office in Kharkiv region Vladyslav Abdula reported.

The investigation established that the suspect, a 49-year-old resident of Vovchansk, voluntarily agreed to shoot a video in early April 2022 in which Russia’s attack on Ukraine began in 2014 was presented as an internal civil conflict.

The suspect voiced typical Kremlin narratives:

  • There was not a single Russian soldier during the anti-terrorist operation in Eastern Ukraine;
  • Russia did not strike Ukraine. Instead, Ukrainians themselves bombed civilian objects in Donbas and killed innocent people.

He accused the Ukrainian authorities of disinformation about Russian aggression in Ukraine and of not assisting ATO veterans and disabled people. In the video, law enforcement officials said that the man called on the Ukrainian military to stop resisting the Russian invaders and lay down their arms.

Russian news agencies subsequently used this appeal for further propaganda fakes, discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the top political leadership of Ukraine.

Based on the evidence collected, SSU investigators served the man a notice of suspicion of committing a crime under Part 2 of Art. 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (justification, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, which began in 2014).

Such actions are punishable by restraint of liberty for up to five years or imprisonment for the same term, with or without confiscation of property.

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