​​Canadian agency says it’s observed ‘numerous Russia-backed disinformation campaigns’

A Canadian agency said on Friday that it had observed “numerous Russia-backed disinformation campaigns” that were meant to support Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Canada’s Communications Security Establishment (CSE) said in a Twitter thread that among the observations noted in its classified reporting were allegations that Russia coordinated efforts to spread the idea that organs of dead soldiers, women and children were being harvested by Ukraine, while using “mobile cremators to dispose of the evidence.”

“Russia has created and amplified fake stories and narratives falsely claiming that only military targets were being attacked, and that civilian causalities in Ukraine were lower [than] what [was] confirmed, verifiable reports have shown,” the CSE said.

The Canadian agency also alleged that stories baselessly accusing Russian civilians opposed to the conflict in Ukraine of “supporting neo-Nazis and genocide” were being promoted by Moscow.

The development comes as the Russian invasion extends into its second month. U.S. and other officials have repeatedly said they do not believe that Moscow has been forthcoming about aspects of its invasion into the neighboring country — even to its own soldiers. 

“When Russian soldiers are captured, 99 percent of the time they say, ‘Well, we didn’t know that we were going to war. We were told by our commanders that we were going to military training and we end up here,’” Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, told Greta Van Susteren last month.

“Since Russia is lying to their soldiers about what they’re going to do when they think they’re going to a military training, what is any sort of hope in negotiations between Ukraine and Russia to end this?” he added at the time. 

The Kremlin has continued to call its invasion a “special military operation” and last month passed a law that could jail people for up to 15 years if they were caught spreading “fake news” about the Russian military.