The pro-Russian Romanian party Alliance of the Union of Romanians (AUR) may soon carry out a series of anti-Ukrainian information provocations, the Kyiv Post reports , citing sources in the Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate. The expected goal of such a disinformation campaign is to create the impression of “infringement of the rights” of Romanians in Ukraine.
According to intelligence sources, officials from the Romanian AUR party are conducting surveys among clergy in Chernivtsi, Zakarpattia, and Odesa regions, where a significant number of Romanians live. They also appeal to the families of Ukrainian soldiers. According to a security source, this is part of Romania’s internal political struggle, but could negatively affect Ukraine’s image.
In addition, according to the information, similar information campaigns are being held in Odesa region by the Bulgarian party “Revival”, which operates among ethnic Bulgarians. This can stimulate protest moods and influence the situation with transit blocking.
Sources in the Ukrainian intelligence community suspect that Russia may be behind these actions, trying to worsen Ukraine’s geopolitical position by coordinating these special operations.
According to a Financial Times report, the AUR party has gained popularity in Romania by changing its rhetoric from anti-Hungarian to anti-Ukrainian and calling on the government to stop supporting Kyiv, arguing that the war in Ukraine is alien to Romania.
And where without TCC
On April 14, our team of researchers noticed a post on Telegram that contained the phrase “Romania, free us.” We investigated this case.
As in the case of the disinformation about the “TCC in Moldova,” the original source was Anton Gura. And just as quickly and synchronously, this fake news was spread:
- lawyer Rostysav Kravets, who often publishes advice on how to avoid mobilization;
- anti-mobilization public“police and TCC of Ukraine: war against the people“
- one of Marian Chava’s chats;
- several dozen z-publics and others.
The essence of the events is as follows: in the village of Bairaki, Hertsaiv district, Chernivtsi region, which is located 10 kilometers from the Ukrainian-Romanian border, representatives of the TCC allegedly “caught 3 guys, beat them, handcuffed them and wanted to load them into a car, but people came out and a scandal broke out” (spelling preserved).
In support, two videos were published showing villagers actually resisting people in military uniforms. It goes as far as physically attacking the military and vandalizing their cars. The ending of the events is unclear and clearly cropped in the published videos, but we have noted the following:
- The women in the video speak mostly Russian and obviously Romanian. They speak Ukrainian very poorly, with a strong Russian accent.
- Anton Gura publishes this video as a screen recording from a live broadcast on TikTok. The account name is not visible and we could not find the original. Therefore, we cannot establish what happened before and after the events in the video.
- On April 19, another attack on a TCC representative took place in the Chernivtsi region, near the village of Chornohuzy, when a serviceman of the Vyzhnytsia district TCC was making a warning and was forced to shoot into the ground to fend off an attack by a group of civilians. The events are apparently identical to those in the village of Bayraki.
- These narratives are commented on by the narrative “the people are beginning to rise.”
Given the above, it can be assumed that in Chernivtsi region, in addition to the usual arguments used by opponents of mobilization in Ukraine, the national issue and regional separatism are also being used. Which is extremely dangerous.
