AJ
Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov decided to verbally name Pepel among “enemy channels” whose publications are to be checked by law enforcement officers, in a list that includes several other Z-channels that regularly criticise the Governor.
Gladkov spoke about the situation of informing the region’s residents about the elimination of the consequences of the blackout that occurred on January 9th, stating that “enemy channels” used this period for a “massive injection of fakes and unreliable information.”
According to Gladkov, the authorities recorded massive organized coordinated attempts to inject fakes, ranging from information about burning generators to the fact that the region’s leadership, together with the municipalities’ leadership, allegedly left the territory of the Belgorod region.
Reports have suggested that the list of channels allegedly organised and injected fakes, which includes 15 channels including that of entrepreneur and Z-blogger Andrey Malikov, who called the editor-in-chief of Pepel an “agent of influence” and a “traitor”, inventing news that Parmenov received money for reducing criticism of Vyacheslev Gladkov from the Minister of Publications of the Belgorod Region Oksana Tarantova.
Also on the list were the channel called Belgorod Today, which regularly criticises Governor Gladkov, which is the channel of anti-war activist Konstantin Besarabenco, whose son died in the war in Ukraine, according to a post on Apolitics.
Gladkov stated that a check would be carried out by law enforcement agencies in relation to the list of channels: “Yesterday at the operational headquarters, the heads of all law enforcement agencies agreed to review and give a legal assessment of the actions of each information resource.”
Astra reported that the Belgorod authorities had been keen to avoid talking about any actions to restore the infrastructure following the attack “because this could lead to repeated strikes.”
Gladkov said: “During this period, enemy channels maximally use the period of temporary lull on the part of Government channels, the Belgorod region government, and Rosetti. They used this opportunity for a massive injection of fakes and unreliable comments.”
Speaking on the motive of the channels, Gladkov continued: “The goal is to destabilise the social situation, to raise the panic among the population. I’m glad that the enemy and opponents did not succeed in doing this.”
Other channels listed by Gladkov included Typical Belgorod, Main News | Belgorod, and Belgorod Informer, as well as Pepel, Ashes, Belgorod Today, Operation Z, and Malikov.
