Russia, Ukraine | The Kremlin: Putin’s speech broadcast by Russian radio was fake

The Kremlin said an alleged radio address by Russian President Vladimir Putin, broadcast by Russian Radio on Monday, was fake and resulted from a hacker attack.

The state news agency RIA reported that a number of radio stations broadcast the speech. In the speech, Putin is said to have said that Ukrainian forces entered Russia’s Kursk, Bryansk and Belgorod regions with the help of NATO and the United States.

Independent Russian media reported that the speech was broadcast to residents of the Rostov, Belgorod and Voronezh regions, all of which border Ukraine, for about 40 minutes.

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The Kremlin claims they are fake

According to the media, a person with a voice very similar to Putin said that a state of emergency has been declared in the three regions, and a nationwide military mobilization has begun in Russia. In addition, the Russians located in the border areas were required to evacuate the interior.

– All these messages are completely false and resulted from a hacker attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday afternoon that control had been restored.

The authorities in Belgorod say the speech was a so-called “deep fake” with the aim of “sowing panic among the population of the region”. AFP reported that the letter was still circulating on social media.

Russia: The counterattack was repulsed

On Monday evening, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that Russian forces had stopped a major Ukrainian offensive in the south of the Donetsk region.

It said in a statement reported by Reuters that Ukraine launched its offensive on Sunday with six mechanized infantry battalions and two tank battalions.

– The enemy’s goal was to penetrate our defense lines in what they believed to be the most vulnerable sectors of the front. The Russian statement said that the enemy did not achieve its goals and did not succeed.

This information has not been verified by independent sources.

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(© NTB)