The Association of Ukrainians in Portugal guarantees that there are, at the moment, in this country, pro-Putin infiltrators in Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that support Ukrainians, and has already alerted the Portuguese Intelligence Service.

In a letter sent on April 2, to the secretary general of the Portuguese Republic Information System (SIRP), Graça Mira Gomes, to which CNN Portugal had access, the president of the association explains that the situation “is very serious and can jeopardise the security of Ukrainian war refugees arriving in Portugal, their relatives in Ukraine and the security of Ukraine in times of Russian invasion”.

Directly linked to Russia

According to the president of the association of Ukrainians, in the document he sent to SIRP, in question are “organisations directly linked to the Russian embassy”, despite “in the statutes” they appear as “multicultural” and are seen as representatives of Ukrainians. “A few months before the Russian invasion of Ukrainian territory, these organisations suddenly cleaned up all the information that showed a connection with the Russian embassy in Portugal on their web pages and social networks”, he explains.

According to the association, the role of these organisations is to influence the Ukrainian community and “misinform Portuguese society” about the social and political reality in Ukraine, in order to convince the West that Ukraine is part of Russian territory.

“The main political role of these organizations and these Russian influencers infiltrated in Portugal is to influence the Ukrainian community, misinform Portuguese and Western society about the history of Ukraine, the social and political reality in Ukraine, convince Western countries that the territory of Ukraine has always belonged to Russia and that the Ukrainian people are only an integral and ethnic part of the Russian nation”, reads the complaint sent to Ambassador Graça Mira Gomes.