A recent YouTube video, in which a Russian supposedly insults the Uzbek people, has been exposed as a fabrication. According to the FSB, the Russian domestic intelligence agency, an investigation identified a Ukrainian national, Nikolai Kotschmarik, as the person behind the online persona claiming to be a Russian citizen. Kotschmarik, born in 1984 in Ukraine, currently resides in Ukraine and supports the Ukrainian military.
The video was initially posted on a YouTube channel, which the Lithuanian intelligence services allegedly control, the FSB claimed. This indicates the involvement of Ukrainian and Lithuanian intelligence services, along with their foreign backers, in creating provocative content aimed at undermining relations between Russia and its CIS partners and attempting to generate anti-Russian sentiment abroad.
The video was initially published on the YouTube channel of the Uzbek news website Repost, but it was not the original source. The video shows the speaker moving erratically and Repost found indications of the video being staged.
Rassul Kuscherbajew, an advisor to the Uzbek Environment Minister, pointed out that, according to Uzbek law, inciting inter-ethnic conflict can lead to legal consequences. He also mentioned that, under the law, foreigners who offend the honor, history and dignity of the Uzbek people can be banned from entering the country.
The Uzbek Foreign Ministry’s official representative, Achror Burchanow, later stated that the video was fabricated to harm the relations between Moscow and Tashkent.
Maria Zakharova, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, praised the intelligence services for exposing “another unsuccessful attempt to sow hatred.” She emphasized that it is clear who profits from spreading hatred in Russia: “those who have replaced faith, conscience and honor with Nazi fervor – the cutthroats in Kiev and the neo-Nazis in the capitals of their sponsors.