FAKE NEWS: SBU, involved in the attempted assassination of Slovakia’s Prime Minister

FAKE NEWS: SBU, involved in the attempted assassination of Slovakia’s Prime Minister
© EPA-EFE/JAKUB GAVLAK   |   Police takes up position as they await the arrival of shooting suspect Juraj C., charged with the attempted murder with premeditation of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, for an interrogation at the Specialized Criminal Court in Pezinok, Slovakia, 18 May 2024.

The Ukrainian secret service is behind the attack against Robert Fico, the pro-Russian blogger Dan Diaconu claims, taking over a false narrative launched by Russian propaganda.

An epochal event that changes nothing

NEWS: “Fico's attempted assassination is that kind of epochal event, meant to change the course of history. I had information from the beginning about this deal, although my sources were far too obscure to be able to disclose the information. But now a large part of the information is confirmed from the official area, more precisely from ... the Slovak police. The Slovak police say they have uncovered exchanges between the (Ukrainian) wife of the terrorist Juraj Cintula and ... the Ukrainian secret service. This confirms the hypothesis initially presented by the police, namely that Cintula was not a “lone wolf’, as propaganda has been claiming. This confirms the modus operandi specific to the Soviet secret services (the actual precursor of the SBU), namely radicalizing the useful idiot through the wife, concubine, etc. Thus, the “vocal member” of the family is found spotless when he is investigated for possible connections with the enemy’s secret services”.

NARRATIVE: The attack against the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, was staged by the Ukrainian secret services, using methods inherited from the late KGB.

BACKGROUND: On May 15, while greeting the crowd gathered in front of a cultural center in the town of Handlova, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was hit by three of the five bullets fired by Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old pensioner, writer and former employee of a private security company. Detained immediately after the attack, Cintula became the protagonist of several narratives, originating both in the Russian information space, where he is depicted as a radicalized progressive pro-Ukrainian, but also in the pro-Western camp, which associates Cintula with a pro-Russian paramilitary group from Slovakia.

The day after the assassination attempt, a post on X stated that “in Slovakia, the wife of #Cintula, who attempted to murder Fico's, has been arrested. She is a REFUGEE from UKRAINE and incited her husband to take revenge on the pro-Russian politician. Wow...”. The account that released the information is called Russian Market (@runews), and is obviously affiliated to the Kremlin, constantly spreading information and narratives that put Ukraine and the collective West in a bad light, by promoting Moscow's entire arsenal of fake news.

Dan Diaconu, who introduced the narrative in Romania, poses as an economic analyst. In fact, he is a pro-Russian blogger, whose website is a conglomerate of conspiracy theories, fake news and misinformation narratives concerning hot topics on the public agenda (the pandemic, the anti-covid vaccine, climate change, the Israel-Hamas conflict, etc.), as well as articles that present Russia as a model state and hail its aggression against Ukraine. His “economic” articles are actually eulogies to countries outside “globalist” circles, presented as models of success, with the idea of demonstrating that prosperity can be achieved if a country chooses its own economic model, based on a policy entirely separate of that of various international bodies, especially those dominated by the USA and Western European states. In addition, Dan Diaconu keeps a kind of war journal on Telegram, where he informs his followers about the victories of the Russian army, excessively praising its achievements on the battlefield. Moreover, when he announces the conquest and utter destruction of a new Ukrainian settlement, he speaks of its “liberation”. Over the years, Diaconu promoted several fake news and disinformation narratives on this topic, such as the one in which he claimed that economic partnerships with the USA lead to bankruptcy, while commercial agreements with Russia ensure prosperity, or another one in which he claimed that Ukraine sells its highly fertile farmland to the West.

PURPOSE: To amplify anti-Ukrainian and pro-Russian feelings, to promote anti-Western rhetoric, to stir and amplify social unrest.

The Slovak police have not linked Ukraine to the investigation into the attack

WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The false claim that the wife of Fico's attacker's is a refugee from Ukraine is part of Russia's arsenal of fake news designed to undermine international assistance for Ukraine. As the post went viral in record time, reaching nearly 550,000 users on X and being shared tens of thousands of times, including on Facebook or Telegram, the Slovak police dismissed the information on the very day of its appearance.

As for the “propaganda narrative”, Cintula’s description as a “lone wolf” with “a clear political motivation” is attributed to the Slovak Minister of the Interior, Matúš Šutaj-Eštok, who made this statement on the very day of the assassination attempt. Later, just as Dan Diaconu was lashing out at Western propaganda with proletarian spite, the aforementioned official in the Fico cabinet made a new public appearance, stating that the team of investigators was also looking into the possibility the suspect “had operated as part of a certain group of people who could have incited and supported each other”, without, however, alluding in any way to the intelligence of Ukraine or any other country.

Furthermore, in a press briefing held the day after the attack, Slovakia's chief of police, Ľubomír Solák, said the claim was a “hoax”. Asked by a journalist about the information “circulating on the Internet that the wife of the terrorist Cintula has been arrested” and whether “she is a refugee from Ukraine”, Solák replied: “It is definitely a hoax”. In fact, Cintula's wife, a former high school teacher, currently retired, is a Slovak citizen of Slovakian ethnicity, born and raised on the territory of Slovakia. As for her “arrest”, we are once again dealing with fake news, the woman having actually been placed under police protection, for fear of becoming, in turn, the victim of revenge from Prime Minister Fico’s supporters.

In conclusion, we can easily notice that, as in previous cases, Dan Diaconu's claims are not backed by any evidence whatsoever, being mere speculation fueled by the fake news factory headquartered in Moscow. We can even add that, despite the Soviet working methods inherited by the SBU, as Dan Diaconu claims, these are the prerogatives of Russia, a country led by a former KGB agent and the actual heir to the assets of the Soviet secret service.

  • Publication / Media:
    Dan Diaconu’s Telegram channel
  • Date of publication:
    19/05/2024
  • Target audience:
    Anti-Ukrainians, pro-Russians, Putinists, anti-West and anti-EU audiences, conspiracists, sovereigntists, nationalists
  • Amplification:
    Social media
  • Key narrative:
    The attack on Slovakia’s Prime Minister was organized by Ukrainian intelligence
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