Bali kidnapping case used for media attack on Oleksandr Petrovskyi - political scientist

The story of the kidnapping of Ukrainian citizen Ihor Komarov on the Indonesian island of Bali may have been used as a tool for an information attack against Dnipro businessman Oleksandr Petrovskyi. This was stated by political scientist Volodymyr Tsybulko in his blog.

According to him, manipulative details began to be added to the real story of the disappearance in an attempt to link it to well-known business and political figures from Dnipro.

"The kidnapping of Komarov is a real human tragedy that has been artificially 'covered' with the necessary manipulative details. In particular, attempts are being made to groundlessly link the case to the well-known Dnipro businessman Oleksandr Petrovskyi," Tsybulko notes.

The political scientist describes this technology as a typical mechanism of information campaigns.

"The scheme is simple: a report about a disappearance appears, then an alleged family connection is artificially added, old media labels are activated (such as 'criminal authority nicknamed Narik'), and it ends with claims about a network of fraudulent call centers that supposedly operate under his protection," the expert explains.

He emphasizes that such campaigns are not built on completely fabricated information, but rather on combining real events with the desired interpretations.

"In disinformation campaigns, 100% lies are rarely used. The 'sandwich method' works best: a real news event is wrapped in the necessary narratives," Tsybulko writes.

In his opinion, the goal of such a campaign is not to clarify the circumstances of the kidnapping, but rather "reputational assassination" of people who have significant financial and socio-political influence.

The expert also suggests that the information attack may be linked both to internal competition for influence within Dnipro and to the interests of Russian intelligence services.

"For the FSB, discrediting such figures through the topic of 'crime and call centers' is an ideal form of revenge," Tsybulko notes, recalling Petrovskyi's role in countering the "Russian Spring" in Dnipro in 2014 and his assistance in the process of obtaining the Tomos for the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

According to the political scientist, such information campaigns may become increasingly frequent.

"We all need to get used to the fact that there will only be more of such campaigns, and their methods will become increasingly sophisticated. The next victim of the 'Bali scenario' could be anyone whose influence interferes with the architects of new political alignments," he concludes.