The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) neutralized an organized group that created a powerful bot farm to discredit the leadership of Ukraine and undermine the socio-political situation, SBU spokesperson Artem Dekhtiarenko has said.

"The attackers massively disseminated disinformation via the Internet, including about the activities of the country's top military and political leadership. The propaganda 'powers' of this bot farm were also used by representatives of the Russian special services. In particular, they spread fake news about the situation at the frontline through bots and carried out other information sabotage," he said in a video statement published on Monday on the Ukrainian intelligence service website.

According to the spokesperson, among the latest "operations" of the intruders are the dissemination of content about the alleged conflict between the leadership of the President's Office and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as a campaign to discredit the first lady.

"In order to disperse destructive content, dealers administered more than 1 million of their own bots, as well as numerous groups in social networks with an audience of almost 400,000 users," Dekhtiarenko said.

He said that in the course of a multi-stage special operation, the head of the criminal group was exposed, he turned out to be a Russian citizen who lived in Kyiv and positioned himself as a "political expert."

"According to the investigation, he organized information and subversive activities on the order of one of the domestic political forces. In order to coordinate criminal actions, he was in 'contact' with the incumbent MP, who is a close associate of the former leadership of our government," the SBU spokesperson said.

He also said the Russian political strategist created special software with which the group members automatically managed an unlimited number of anonymous accounts in the most popular social networks.

"During searches at the locations of the organizers of the crime, law enforcement officers seized: a hardware and software complex that ensures the functioning of the bot farm; some 5,000 SIM cards that the attackers used to create and subsequently maintain technical accounts; some 200 'Proxy' servers for spoofing IP addresses and avoiding blocking relevant Internet resources," he said.

Measures to expose and block offenses were carried out by officers of the SBU Cyber ​​Department with the Main Investigation Department of the National Police and under the procedural leadership of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Under criminal proceedings under Part 2 of Article 361 (unauthorized interference in the work of information (automated), electronic communication, information and communication systems, electronic communication networks) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, investigative and operational actions are ongoing to bring to justice all the organizers of the bot farm.

The SBU report does not specify a political force, as a source in law enforcement agencies told Interfax-Ukraine, it is about the European Solidarity party.

At the same time, European Solidarity categorically deny their involvement in the bot farm. "Officially: there was no 'European Solidarity bot farm.' This is a false stuffing aimed at discrediting the patriotic political force," MP of the European Solidarity faction Volodymyr Ariev said on Facebook.