Russia-Ukraine crisis: Sydney’s pro-Putin rally fuelled by fake bots

A Sydney man who calls himself the “Aussie Cossack” and argues Russia is “liberating” Ukraine from Nazis has used social media hashtag trends fuelled by fake bots to justify a pro-Putin rally in Australia.

SYDNEY: A man who calls himself the “Aussie Cossack” and argues Russia is “liberating” Ukraine from Nazis, NATO and the Illuminati has used social media hashtag trends fuelled by fake bots to justify a pro-Putin rally in Australia.

The event was organised by a man known as the “Aussie Cossack,” who used pro-Putin hashtags trending due to social media bots to justify the “I Stand With Russia” rally.

Simeon Bokoiv called on his 50,000 Facebook followers to join a rally on Sunday in support of Russia’s war efforts, claiming President Vladimir Putin was in fact “helping” Ukrainians from “Nazis” in a “peacekeeping operation” in a video promoting the event.

Simeon Boikov speaking at the Stand with Russia Rally outside the Russian Consulate in Woollahra. Picture: Damian Shaw

Around 50 people gathered in support of the Russian invasion. Picture: Damian Shaw

Wielding Russian and Australian flags, around 50 people rallied around an image of Putin erected outside the Russian Consulate in Woollahra, calling on Australia to support the Russian invasion.

At one point, protesters sang the Australian Anthem, with Mr Bokoiv describing the invasion as a “peacekeeping operation where Russians are liberating Ukrainian cities and towns from Nazis, from NATO influence from the west’s interference.”

“Russians are cleaning them out, they’re helping the civilians. If you support the Russian situation for what the peacekeepers are doing and to stand up against this massive anti-Russian hysteria anti-Russian sentiment in the news,” he said.

Simeon Boikov speaking at the Stand with Russia Rally outside the Russian Consulate in Woollahra on Sunday. Picture: Damian Shaw

Mr Bokoiv used the fact #IStandWithPutin and #IStandWithRussia hashtags were trending on social media as proof of the widespread support for his accusations, but Twitter and other platforms have been actively taking down fake accounts pushing those statements.

On the weekend Twitter confirmed it had banned more than 100 accounts pushing the hashtags as they were participating in a “co-ordinated and inauthentic” movement to create the appearance of support for Mr Putin.

A Ukrainian Australian woman told The Daily Telegraph, while the civilised world stood with her country it was devastating to see “provocateurs” in Sydney trying to rally support for Russia as the aggressor.

She said she was particularly hurt by the instruction that rally attendees mark their vehicles with a “Z,” which she said was the letter that “marks Russian tanks that are killing civilians in Ukraine”.

“My heart is crying,” she said.

Communication Minister Paul Fletcher said the federal government expected tech companies would take timely actions to prevent the spread of misinformation on their platforms in Australia in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Late last week I wrote to the major digital platforms flagging our concerns about Russian propaganda distributed to Australian customers via their channels,” he said.

Mr Fletchers said several platforms had already advised the government of actions they had taken to limit the spread of propaganda.

“We will continue to monitor and to assess if further action is required,” he said.

Originally published as Russia-Ukraine crisis: Sydney’s pro-Putin rally fuelled by fake bots