Ukraine has set up a group to stop any attempt by Russia to influence next year’s elections, a state security body said on Thursday. The National Council for Security and Defence, which is headed by President Petro Poroshenko, established the special group ahead of presidential elections in March and parliamentary elections next October. Relations between Kiev and Moscow collapsed following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that Moscow backed.
“The experience of the United States and Western European countries shows that the Kremlin will try to influence (elections) through the cybernetic and informational space on socio-political processes,” said Olexander Turchynov, secretary for the Council.
“There are legitimate reasons to assume that the Russian leadership will try at any cost to use the electoral process to implement the plans of hybrid aggression against our state, he said. Moscow denies carrying out cyber attacks.
Full Article: Ukraine sets up group to stop any attempt by Russia to influence elections | Reuters.