MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/: Foreign forces used YouTube video hosting during the August 10 authorized rally on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue in order to manipulate Russian citizens, encouraging them to violate law, the chairman of the Federation Council’s temporary commission for the protection of state sovereignty and prevention of interference in Russia’s internal affairs, Andrei Klimov, said in a statement.
"In particular, according to our information, on August 10 our foreign opponents took advantage of information and computer technologies (including popular video hosting YouTube) in order to manipulate Russian citizens, who attended an authorized rally on Moscow’s Sakharov Avenue," the senator said.
"Simply speaking, people started receiving on their gadgets information from the sources, for which they had never signed up," the senator said. This information was of instigative nature, encouraging citizens to violate law by sending them to protected federal facilities, he explained.
Under Article 33 of the Russian Criminal Code, instigators are persons who encourage others to commit crimes by persuasion, bribery and other means.
These technologies cannot be used without the assistance of certain Western organizations and owners of network companies, the senator noted. These facts won’t be left unanswered by the commission, he warned.
In this context, Klimov noted that on August 8, the commission officially cited the facts of blatant and illegal foreign meddling in the country’s sovereign affairs in connection with the election to the Moscow City Duma. "Unfortunately, these attempts of meddling continued today," he said.
The rally on August 10 was the fourth in support of independent candidates at the upcoming election to the Moscow City Duma (parliament). The previous rallies were held on July 20, July 27 and August 3, with only the first one of them being authorized.
