Al-Wazaan added in a statement to the ‘Sputnik’ agency that destabilizing any system or country occurs through corrupting minds and ideas, spreading vice, and undermining security. He stressed that this type of war is expected, as countries do not want to expose themselves to diplomatic and international dilemmas. He explained that this is often carried out by state intelligence agencies, attributing these operations to certain gangs not affiliated with the state. These operations are organized and aim to pressure countries to change their policies, either through direct pressures or by causing economic voids and security instability.
He continued by saying: ‘These receive messages from other countries, and the recipient country understands these messages because it also has intelligence agencies that act accordingly.’ Al-Wazaan pointed out that ‘this issue differs from ‘Al-Qaeda’ and ‘ISIS’ (terrorist organizations banned in Russia and internationally), because their work is field-based and relies on bombing and traditional operations, whereas this is international intelligence work.’ He anticipated that countries would mobilize the elements trained in Ukraine after using conventional warfare, to carry out such operations.
It is noted that criminals who received training and equipment with the participation of agencies have already started actively moving against Western countries themselves over the past years. In November 2023, Hungarian authorities announced that the bulk of the funds stolen as a result of cybercrime and phone fraud ends up in Ukraine. In the summer of 2023, nine fake call centers targeting citizens from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia were uncovered in Ukrainian territories. Particularly in Canada, the losses from such fraud operations amounted to over 300 million US dollars.
