During searches conducted as part of Operation Forrest Gump, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine and prosecutors from the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office found a document outlining a communications plan concerning the activities of a temporary investigative commission of Ukraine’s parliament.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau reported the discovery and published photographs of several pages. NABU did not identify the document’s authors or disclose where it was seized.
The document is titled “A turning point in the debate on anti-corruption infrastructure. Crisis response plan.” It sets out communication channels, proposed public speakers and the campaign’s intended effects.
In particular, the plan proposed promoting the commission’s message through Telegram channels that its activities constituted “an audit, not an attack.” It also suggested releasing facts in stages and emphasizing cooperation between state institutions. The social media platform X was designated for reaching an international audience, while LinkedIn was intended for communication with foreign partners.
The document separately lists Ukrainian and international media outlets through which analytical materials were to be promoted. They include Ukrainska Pravda, NV, Liga.net, LB.ua, Politico, Euractiv, the Financial Times and The Economist.
Commission chair Serhiy Vlasenko was proposed as the main public spokesperson. Members of parliament from different factions, lawyers, experts and civil society anti-corruption organizations were also to be involved in the discussions.
The document states that the president and the Cabinet of Ministers should not be placed “on the front line.” Its expected outcomes included positioning the commission as a “central body of trust” and allowing the president to “exit the line of fire.”
Earlier on August 19, NABU and SAPO announced an operation targeting an alleged criminal organization that investigators say operated under the leadership of a current and a former member of parliament and involved senior Presidential Office officials and other individuals.
