Russian media: Western security services are preparing 'misinformation attack' against Putin
Russian news agency RIA Novosti, reported, with reference to a "military-diplomatic source," that the US and British special services reportedly "prepare misinformation attack against the Russian President Vladimir Putin and his entourage in the leadership of the Ministry of Defense." It is alleged that this information will be used to justify new sanctions against Russia.
According to the source of the agency, experts of the American and British intelligence services "prepare fake information about the Russian leadership" similar to the so-called Panamagate scandal which started after the publication of materials of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca in 2016.
The source of RIA Novosti claims that this "fake information" will be allegedly published through the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), that belongs to the financiers George Soros and Bill Browder. Information could also be spread through Radio Liberty and the Current Time TV channel. The source of RIA Novosti didn't provide any evidence of the source's allegations. News agency calls possible future publications about Putin's entourage as interference in the internal affairs of Russia.
In March 2016, the Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov spoke about the preparation of "customized" materials in foreign media about Putin's entourage. A few days after his statement, "The Panama Papers" on offshore companies were published, which mentioned several people from the entourage of the Russian President, especially cellist Sergei Roldugin. Then journalists connected the "warnings" from Peskov with the fact that before the publication journalists appealed to the Kremlin with questions and requests for comment. It is unclear whether the current statement of RIA Novosti relates to questions of journalistic to the Kremlin.