On Tuesday, Russian defence officials warned residents to leave the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv ahead of planned strikes.

They were to target the Security Service of Ukraine and the 72nd Main Centre for Information and Psychological Operations, according to state news agency TASS. “We call on Ukrainian citizens attracted by nationalists to carry out provocations against Russia to leave their homes,” the statement read.

Moscow has so far paid little mind to the safety of Ukrainian civilians, so why go to the effort of broadcasting a planned attack?

While there is one war being fought on the ground, there is an entirely separate one being waged online.

The warning provided the Kremlin a pre-prepared excuse if indeed civilians were to be killed in the “high-precision” strikes, and news of their deaths beamed to millions across the world. The “enemy” had used civilians as human shields, Moscow could claim, meaning it bore none of the responsibility.

They did much the same thing in Syria. One particularly memorable incident comes to mind.

Just before the attack that I wrote about in April of 2018 (the one that prompted the state-sponsored hacking), Russia disseminated allegations across its media channels that the Syrian rebels were preparing chemical weapons with the help of the West.

It even included specific details about the arrival of a group of French military experts allegedly responsible for helping the rebels plan the attack.

Pro-regime social media users, which detractors dubbed the “useful idiots”, then went about promoting the theories on YouTube, Twitter and their own fringe websites.