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bne February 2022 Companies & Markets I 23
bne:Tech
Is viral video of 'Kazakh terrorist group' KLF Russian disinformation?
bne IntelIiNews
Amysterious video was uploaded to Telegram on January 7 showing four supposed terrorists with a Kalashnikov and a Kazakh flag who claimed to be members of
a group called the "Kazakh Liberation Front", or KLF.
Speaking for the group, one of the four members went on to make political demands on the Kazakh state, using technology to distort his voice. All four were wearing ski masks and their eyes were obscured by black bars added to the video.
The spokesman said the group is actively fighting in various cities across Kazakhstan as part of the ongoing anti- government protests that broke out on January 2.
The group said the involvement of the Russia-led “peacekeeping” forces in the country’s civil unrest was the start of an occupation, encouraging citizens to “fight back, create resistance groups and organise attacks” against the Kazakh government and Russian military.
It didn’t take long for the video to break the confines of Telegram and go viral on Twitter. Conflict researcher @war_noir was one of the first English language accounts to share the recording, which had clocked 90,000 views at the time of writing. A number of Twitter users openly supported the group’s formation without questioning the authenticity of the footage.
The video is timely, as the KLF’s announcement came shortly after Kazakh President Tokayev blamed “foreign-trained terrorists” for the violent protests, and gave law enforcement the order to “shoot to kill without warning”. Residents in Almaty have been warned to stay at home after a curfew was imposed last week as “anti-terrorist” actions are being conducted.
Tokayev has also used the claims of an attack orchestrated by international terrorists to trigger Article 4 of the Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO) that allows him to call on the other members to send military aid to restore public order.
And there is some evidence for terrorists acting in Kazakhstan. As bne IntelliNews reported, there has been plenty of footage
The Kazakh government has claimed that it is under attack by "international terrorists" but has offered no evidence. A video of a so-called Kazakh terrorist group KLF making political demands has gone viral but it appears very likely to be a fake.
shared on social media of civilians arming themselves, although a question mark remains over the authenticity of this footage.
The Kazakh authorities have been much more successful in their ability to control access to information in this crisis. Social media was allowed to operate unfettered during Ukraine’s EuroMaidan revolution in 2014, and Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko was unable to close down the Telegram messaging service during the mass protests in Minsk in the summer of 2020, which caused him a major headache. But the Kazakh authorities successfully shuttered the internet entirely during this protest. That gave it complete control of the information flow, as the population have only state TV and calls to relatives and friends to rely on to get information on what is going on.
The other source of reporting is Russian state-owned media and in particular, the only source of English-language reporting is the Kremlin’s flagship RT broadcaster. Both
the Kazakh authorities and Russians have a vested interest in hamming up the conflict and the role of international terrorists in particular. As bne IntelliNews has reported,
a Russian state-owned news agency TASS report of soldiers firing on protesters on Republic Square on January 5 appears to be fake, but has been widely reported on both state and international news outlets.
Getting accurate and verifiable information has been extremely hard. Two of the best known international correspondents who have been working in the country for years – Joana Lillis and Paul Bartlett – happened to be outside Kazakhstan on a Christmas break and have been refused entry on their return to report on the story. bne IntelliNews’ own correspondent in Almaty is currently one of the only English- language reporters working on the protest story.
Amongst the many videos is one from January 5 allegedly showing protesters raiding an armoury, and photos released by the Kazakh Ministry of Internal Affairs the same day depicted numerous weapon seized from protesters, including
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