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Russian residents in its western border regions woke up to an alarming broadcast from President Vladimir Putin, declaring that Ukrainian forces had crossed into Russian territory and that a general mobilisation of fighting men was now in progress.
The video, however, was a deepfake, and its broadcast was the result of apparent cyber attacks on multiple television and radio broadcasters.
“Today, at 4am this morning, Ukrainian forces, with the support of Washington, entered the territory of Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk regions,” the broadcast said, adding that more troops would be mobilised to “defeat the dangerous and perfidious enemy”.
The message also appeared to show Putin declaring martial law in the border regions.
Russian authorities were quick to deny the veracity of the broadcast. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, told Russia’s state-owned news agency TASS that the president had made no such broadcast.
“There was definitely no [appeal],” Peskov said. “Indeed, there was a hack in some regions. In particular, I know that there was a hack on Mir radio and in some networks. Now all this has already been eliminated, taken under control. Services are now sorting it out.”
Mir, formally known as the Interstate Television and Radio Company (MTRK), confirmed that its network had been compromised and that the broadcast was not sanctioned and that normal services had been restored.
“Today, from 12:41 to 13:18, unidentified persons committed an illegal tie-in with the substitution of the content of the information programs of the Mir TV channel and radio Mir,” Mir said in a statement reported by TASS. “All information posted from 12:41 to 13:18 is not relevant to the Mir MTRK and is an absolute fake and a provocation.”
Cable operators in the Crimean region also reported interruptions to their broadcasts.
“The broadcast of a number of Crimean cable operators has been hacked,” wrote Oleg Kryuchkov, an adviser to Crimean authorities, in a post on Telegram. “The signal is being switched off. Terrestrial television — all multiplexes — are operating as usual.”
The deepfake broadcast comes as Ukraine is stepping up combat operations for a possible counterattack in the Donetsk region and as pro-Ukrainian militia groups have performed a number of operations on Russian soil, particularly around Belgorod.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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