Translated material
The Latvian Ministry of Defense declared reprints of an article about the detained head of the Central Bank an information campaign against the country
The Ministry of Defense of Latvia announced that a “large-scale information campaign” was launched against the country against the background of the case against the head of the Bank of Latvia, Ilmar Rimsevics.
The campaign consists of numerous reprints . of an Associated Press article about Ilmar Rimshevich and its illustration - a photograph in which Rimshevich allegedly sits at the same table with Dmitry Pilshchikov, head of the Russian Research Institute of Information Technologies, while hunting in Russia in 2010
The Ministry of Defense points out that the article was reprinted not only by publications specializing in international and financial news, but also by sites like The North Platte Telegraph , The Fresno Bee or Idaho Press , which previously “did not write news about Latvia ". “This method allows you to quickly spread the story and guarantee its issuance in search engines,” the department said.
The purpose of the operation in the Ministry of Defense is the reduction of confidence in the government of Latvia and interference in the course of elections to the Saeima. Similar operations, according to the Ministry of Defense, took place before the elections in the United States, in France and in Germany. Who could organize the campaign, the press release does not say.
The source of the operation was a tweet by Associated Press journalist Carlo Piovano, citing an AP News article and a photo of Rimsevics sitting at a table with other people. A search on the Scanpix website showed that the photo was not uploaded in 2010, but in February 2018 by a third party (English).
- Ilmars Rimsevics, who has been heading the Bank of Latvia since 2001, was detained in a case of extorting a bribe in the amount of more than 100,000 euros. Who became the victim of extortion is not disclosed. In an Associated Press article, executives at the Latvian Norvik Banka made accusations against Rimsevics.
- Rimsevics himself said that this photo from the Associated Press article could be falsified. The Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis stated that the photograph may be genuine, but "what matters is [the] purpose for which it is now being used."
- The Associated Press is one of the largest news agencies in the world. His articles are reprinted by dozens of publications in many countries. Many of his materials have been published, including on the websites mentioned in the press release of the Latvian Ministry of Defense.