Russians make video with professional actors to undermine mobilisation in Ukraine – ISW

Pro-Russian channels are distributing a propaganda video about mobilisation in Ukraine, designed to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the government. 

Source: Institute for the Study of War (ISW)

Details: Military analysts report that the propaganda video is highly costly and cinematically sophisticated, indicating that it is the product of a coordinated and well-resourced information operation.

Russian opposition outlets Agentstvo and Mediazone reported that the actors in the video were professional Russian actors who had previously appeared on Russian television shows.

One of the actors refused to discuss his involvement in the video, claiming that he only appears in films and not in commercials.

The Kremlin has previously used high-cost propaganda videos as part of centrally managed information operations, and the characteristics of this latest video suggest that it supports the Kremlin's broader efforts to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the government, undermine Ukrainian mobilisation efforts and incite internal discontent.

To quote the ISW’s Key Takeaways on 1 April: 

• A joint investigation by 60 Minutes, the Insider, and Der Spiegel strongly suggests that the Kremlin has waged a sustained kinetic campaign directly targeting US government personnel both in the United States and internationally for a decade, with the likely objective of physically incapacitating US government personnel.
• The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) is intensifying efforts to falsely implicate Ukraine in the 22 March Crocus City Hall terrorist attack while denying any Islamic State (IS) responsibility or involvement in the attack.
• Russian authorities are taking measures to further crackdown against migrant communities in Russia following the Crocus City Hall attack.
• Russian forces recently made confirmed advances near Avdiivka and in the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast amid continued positional engagements along the entire line of contact on 1 April.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) continues to reassure the Russian public that Russian military conscripts will not deploy to most of occupied Ukraine nor participate in combat operations in Ukraine amid the start of the spring semi-annual military conscription call-up that started on 1 April.

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