Kremlin recruits hundreds of bots praising russian air defense after three hits at Tuapse refinery

The Kremlin has recruited almost 1,500 accounts on social media for an "anti-crisis" campaign after a series of successful strikes by Ukraine on an oil refinery in Tuapse, Krasnodar Krai, the aggressor country of the russian federation. They are massively praising russian air defense, which failed to repel three drone attacks on the facility.

The russian publication Verstka reported this with reference to data from the Botnadzor project on Wednesday, April 29.

According to the Botnadzor, the russian propaganda machine has recruited about 1,400 accounts praising the "best in the world" russian air defense, accusing Western countries of allegedly "having a hand" in the Ukrainian attacks, and promising that the russian federation will not leave this unanswered. In addition, Kremlinbots are actively spreading the narrative that Ukraine's strikes on russian energy facilities are "terrorism."

The bots' actions affected more than 500 posts in regional and federal public forums. They account for about 15% of the total number of comments under these posts.

Later, the bots switched to downplaying the consequences of Ukraine's strikes on the Tuapse oil refinery. They promise that the air in the city area will "soon become cleaner," as firefighters have already extinguished everything that was burning.

The bots are also actively praising the work of the russian Emergencies Ministry and its head, Aleksandr Kurenkov, who flew to the scene and that "everything should be resolved soon."

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, since the beginning of April, the Ukrainian Defense Forces have attacked the Tuapse oil refinery three times. The last time drones struck the refinery was on the night of last Tuesday, April 27. As a result of the attack on the facilities, a large-scale fire broke out again.

On April 20, after the second attack on the oil refinery, residents of Tuapse complained about "oil rain" that fell against the background of the fire. Later, environmentalists sounded the alarm, as smoke from the fire spread for 300 kilometers, and oil stains formed in the Black Sea.

Russian dictator vladimir putin commented on the situation in Tuapse only 12 days after the first attack. The Kremlin head complained about "terrorism" and admitted that the russian federation is not able to provide full protection for such facilities.