Spoof billboards celebrating Russian President Vladimir Putin's "contribution" to Brexit have been put up in London by a satirical group which says it wants to secure recognition for the role Russian military intelligence played in the referendum.
Britain has said it found no evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit vote and Moscow has repeatedly denied even trying, though opponents of Brexit have repeatedly questioned whether the Kremlin played a role.
In the referendum, 17.4 million voters, or 51.9 percent, backed leaving the EU while 16.1 million, or 48.1 percent, backed staying. Britain is due to leave on March 29.
The posters in London showed a picture of Kremlin chief Putin winking and holding the Russian flag beside the slogan:
"Lets celebrate a Red, White and Blue Brexit." The "r" of Brexit was reversed to give it the look of a Cyrillic letter.In a statement, the people claiming to be behind the campaign
said they were a group of Russian military intelligence (GRU) officers who wanted their true role in the Brexit vote to be recognized.
"The group hopes to counter recent unwarranted negative publicity about the GRU by putting up advertisements
highlighting their part in Britain's imminent liberation from the EU," said the group, which calls itself Proud Bear.
Britain accuses the GRU of trying to poison former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter with a nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury in March.
A video posted by the @Pr0ud_Bear group showed Putin riding a bulldog with the face of Brexit campaigner Arron Banks.
"People of tiny island - it is time to celebrate," the video said.
It asked for funding to celebrate the GRU's role in Brexit by hiring a digital billboard at Waterloo station and extolled the economic possibilities of post-Brexit trade with Russia including a booming trade in vodka.
When contacted by Reuters, a representative of the group said in a statement in Russian that it was concerned by the health of Russian democracy and opposed the authoritarian tendencies of Moscow.
The group expressed solidarity with Russian journalists but the representative declined to say who was behind the stunt. The Russian embassy did not immediately comment.
Comment: ProudBear's Twitter account is hilarious. What's even funnier is how many people seem to have been unsure whether or not it was a hoax...
The IRA "troll farm" is back in the news too.
The Daily Beast, among others, are taking claims seemingly from IRA itself 'declaring victory in the U.S. election and warning the "citizens of the United States of America" that "your intelligence agencies are powerless."'
"Despite all their efforts, we have thousands of accounts registered on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit spreading political propaganda," read a statement attributed to the St. Petersburg-based organization. "These accounts work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to discredit anti-Russian candidates and support politicians more useful for us than for you."
The statement appeared on a website titled the "Internet Research Agency American Division" that popped up over the weekend. Featuring a clip art logo of a green goblin typing on a laptop, and packed with absurd boasts about the IRA's prowess, the site at first appeared to be a lampoon. But on Tuesday night it posted a previously unseen list of 100 IRA Instagram accounts that Facebook confirmed as authentic.
It's still not entirely clear if the website is intended as self-parody, a parody of U.S. perceptions of Russian information operations, or an earnest effort to terrify the American citizenry and cast doubt on the midterm results.
That's worthy of only one response: LOL. It gets funnier:
"Hundreds of your fellow citizens are our unintentional agents unaware of the fact that they actually act for the good of the Russian 'troll farm,'" the statement declared. "We have allies and spoilers intervening the political campaigns of the candidates for both parties. The victory of the Democratic party is our top priority in these midterm elections."
"Soon after November 6, you will realize that your vote means nothing," the statement reads. "We decide who you vote for and what candidates will win or lose. Whether you vote or not, there is no difference as we control the voting and counting systems. Remember, your vote has zero value. We are choosing for you."
Followed by more and more people in all seriousness taking this very,
very seriously...
Comment: ProudBear's Twitter account is hilarious. What's even funnier is how many people seem to have been unsure whether or not it was a hoax...
The IRA "troll farm" is back in the news too. The Daily Beast, among others, are taking claims seemingly from IRA itself 'declaring victory in the U.S. election and warning the "citizens of the United States of America" that "your intelligence agencies are powerless."' That's worthy of only one response: LOL. It gets funnier: Followed by more and more people in all seriousness taking this very, very seriously...