New Weapon Unveiled in Russia's War With Ukraine

The Kremlin on Monday said an emergency announcement from President Vladimir Putin that aired on multiple radio and television stations in regions of Russia bordering Ukraine was a deepfake created by hackers.

The artificially generated voice of Putin can be heard in the address saying a "state of emergency" had been declared in the Belgorod, Voronezh and Rostov regions of Russia due to incoming attacks from Ukrainian forces. The fake Putin also told residents of the areas to evacuate their homes to seek shelter deeper inside Russia.

Radio Mir, one of the hacked stations, reported the incident lasted for approximately 40 minutes. Meanwhile, clips of TV broadcasts of a Putin deepfake video began spreading on social media. No one—including officials from Ukraine—has claimed responsibility for the hacking incident.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded after the announcement was aired, saying the martial law declaration was the work of hackers.

"There was definitely no [appeal]. Indeed, there was a hack in some regions. In particular, I know that there was a hack on Radio Mir and on some networks. Now all this has already been eliminated, taken under control," Peskov told the Russian state media outlet Tass.

The Kyiv Post wrote that the administrative center for the Belgorod regions called the message a"deepfake" which was intended to "sow panic among peaceful Belgorod residents."

Hanna Liubakova, a Belarusian journalist and non-resident fellow at the Atlantic Council, shared a clip of a TV broadcast that showed the deepfake.

Data scientist Arseny Khakhalin—who frequently writes about artificial intelligence (AI)—tweeted that the hacking may be "the first weaponized use of deepfakes in a real war."

However, actors seemingly working on behalf of Russia, or at least sympathetic to Putin's war, created a deepfake of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the early weeks of the invasion that began in February 2022.

In that manipulated video, Zelensky appeared to urge his soldiers to lay down their weapons and surrender to Russia. The clip was debunked, but it circulated widely on social media before being removed.

"Fake posts purporting to come from real figures are an increasing risk in an AI-influenced world," Colonel Philip Ingram, a former British military intelligence officer and NATO planner, told Politico Europe in regards to the Putin deepfake. "In war propaganda, 'deepfakes' delivered in a convincing way for military or political effect, they're an expected weapon—but they can be very convincing."

"I suspect this is the new norm. A few weeks ago it was the fake Pentagon bombing photo that went viral on Twitter that caused the stock market to plunge half a trillion dollars, before eventually rebounding," Hany Farid, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and an expert in digital media forensics, told Newsweek.

"I don't think anyone should be surprised that when we build and deploy tools to manipulate reality, coupled with the existing delivery mechanisms of TV/radio/internet that can instantaneously reach billions, various actors are going to misuse these technology," Farid said. "This is especially true when our regulators have failed to figure out how to put appropriate guardrails on the technology sector, and when Silicon Valley continues to move fast and break things."

Jason Jay Smart—a political adviser on post-Soviet and international politics—told Newsweek that he feels the Monday incident in Russia's border regions shows the growing dissidence against the Russian leader.

"The alleged deepfakes of Putin are indicative of the fact that there is partisan warfare now occurring in Russia," Smart said. "The situation is out of control: Putin no longer controls the territory of Russia, the domestic circumstances, or even what appears on TV."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.