Putin pointed to the elevation of phone fraud to the level of Kiev's state policy

Phone fraud has been elevated to the level of state policy in Ukraine as one of the lines of attack against Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said at a meeting with members of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights on 10 December. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this at a meeting with members of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (CDHR) on December 10.

"Regarding the fact that certain actions (fraud against Russian residents. - Ed.) are being taken from the territory of Ukraine - absolutely certain, we know this. This is elevated to the rank of state policy, this is one of the lines of attack on you and me, on our population," the head of state said.

He added that phone scammers often operate under the control of Ukrainian government agencies or structures under their control.

Putin emphasized that he would draw the attention of the Prosecutor General's Office to the problem of Ukrainian scammers harming Russians, and instructed to consider proposals for ways to block the shaft of calls from these attackers and prohibit the substitution of phone numbers.

Earlier, on December 9, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) drew attention to the fact that intelligence services of unfriendly countries, such as Ukraine, are increasingly involving Russians in illegal activities through blackmail, bribery attempts and deception. Such foreign fraudsters may present themselves as law enforcement officers.

Before that, on October 14, Russian Deputy Interior Minister Igor Zubov said that there are call centers in Ukraine that are run by the country's special services. The activities of these illegal organizations are directed against Russian citizens: the attackers report false mines at facilities in the Russian Federation and try to steal money from people. The number of such crimes is increasing.