Moscow's public outrage over the non-admission of Russian observers to monitor Ukraine elections is part of the general plan to discredit the very election campaign and recognize the results of the presidential election illegitimate.
To this end, Moscow even involves Western pro-Kremlin journalists, the Segodnya newspaper reported referring to a Ukrainian MP and coordinator of the "Information Resistance" OSINT Group Dmytro Tymchuk.
It should be noted that recently, Christian Verschyutts, a journalist with the Austrian television channel ORF, attempted to get into Ukraine to cover the elections. However, he was banned from entering for a period of 12 months due to the fact that during the past four years, he had visited the occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea crossing in from Russia through checkpoints not controlled by Ukraine authorities.
“The next step (and it is already being taken) is provoking Ukraine's obvious and expected negative reaction to the arrival in our country of odious Western journalists who were spotted in Crimea and occupied Donbas, as well as representatives of Russian propaganda media. This is all about preparing the international community to Moscow’s tough stance on recognizing the presidential election in Ukraine as 'illegitimate.' That is, not just recognizing it as that which allegedly passed with some violations of democratic norms, but recognizing it as “not reflecting the will of the citizens of Ukraine,” Tymchuk wrote.
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According to him, the implementation of this plan is already in full swing, while one of the technologies applied will be the use of Internet sites controlled by Russian special services, including Telegram channels, to deliver a supposedly “objective” and “unbiased” polls precisely on election day.
“The main purpose of such manipulation will be to draw a picture of an “actual” low turnout of Ukraine’s citizens to the polling stations. After this, reports are expected to be massively spun on the allegedly exaggerated turnout figures delivered by the Central Election Commission and "Kyiv's cynical falsification of election results." The Kremlin's spin doctors and intelligence agencies believe that the implementation of this project will allow influencing the political situation in Ukraine with any outcome of the elections, including with the aim of destabilizing the country – in order to promote in the parliamentary elections 'the party of peace and stability,' that is, their fifth column,” the OSINT expert said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian security officials and a number of experts note that Russia remains pro-active in its hybrid aggression against Ukrainians, while refraining for the moment from forcing military operations in Donbas and organizing new terrorist attacks in Ukraine's rear.
