What did the authorities' response to the scandal with the Moss plant near Kyiv show? On Tuesday, the authorities began a campaign to neutralize the negativity of the story with the moss facility in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The comments of officials in the Ministry of the Interior and the National Guard are summarized in the following statements. First, there was no torture or beatings at the facility. It was simply a temporary place for "Azov" - a regular military unit where people waited to be sent to combat units. Four soldiers really needed medical attention and we had been planning to send them to the hospital for a long time. Second, the protest was organized by the head of a private clinic and an activist demanding the end of the war, Valentina Molodi, in order to rescue the SZCh employee who was on the premises of the facility, for whom she had "organized a show", spread false information about the beatings, and incited people to storm the building. Two parallel versions were also promoted on social networks through resources close to the authorities and the military - that Molodi and others were acting in the interests of the Russian Federation, or for money (or through an acquaintance) tried to rescue the SZCh officer, served as his support group. That is, so far the position of the authorities, supported by an active PR campaign on social networks, is that no violations were found at the Azov facility, and that all that happened was a "provocation by pro-Russian forces". At the same time, there is a wave of hatred against Molodya and even against the 14-year-old boy, who became one of the symbols of the protest action. True, the SBI's criminal case regarding possible abuse by members of the Azov army is still being investigated, but the campaign created by both officials and the campaign in the media and social networks is aimed, among other things, at preventing suspicion of the army. This mindset is quite clear: "Everything is clear in the case, there is no crime and there never was, everything else is fiction and provocations, the issue is closed."

What did the authorities' response to the scandal with the Moss plant near Kyiv show? On Tuesday, the authorities began a campaign to neutralize the negativity of the story with the moss facility in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. The comments of officials in the Ministry of the Interior and the National Guard are summarized in the following statements. First, there was no torture or beatings at the facility. It was simply a temporary place for "Azov" - a regular military unit where people waited to be sent to combat units. Four soldiers really needed medical attention and we had been planning to send them to the hospital for a long time. Second, the protest was organized by the head of a private clinic and an activist demanding the end of the war, Valentina Molodi, in order to rescue the SZCh employee who was on the premises of the facility, for whom she had "organized a show", spread false information about the beatings, and incited people to storm the building. Two parallel versions were also promoted on social networks through resources close to the authorities and the military - that Molodi and others were acting in the interests of the Russian Federation, or for money (or through an acquaintance) tried to rescue the SZCh officer, served as his support group. That is, so far the position of the authorities, supported by an active PR campaign on social networks, is that no violations were found at the Azov facility, and that all that happened was a "provocation by pro-Russian forces". At the same time, there is a wave of hatred against Molodya and even against the 14-year-old boy, who became one of the symbols of the protest action. True, the SBI's criminal case regarding possible abuse by members of the Azov army is still being investigated, but the campaign created by both officials and the campaign in the media and social networks is aimed, among other things, at preventing suspicion of the army. This mindset is quite clear: "Everything is clear in the case, there is no crime and there never was, everything else is fiction and provocations, the issue is closed."