Jussi Muurikainen, who actively supports Ukraine, got to experience what hybrid influence is in practice.
A person from Jyväskylä dedicated to supporting war-torn Ukraine Jussi Muurikainen was spending his summer vacation when he started receiving messages through various channels last Tuesday.
Several of Muurikainen’s collaborators told him about the e-mails that had been sent in the name of the Ukrainian authorities. Muurikainen will organize The Bridge Of Trust event in Lviv, Ukraine next September.
The message seen by Iltalehti mentions, among other things, that the Russian citizenship of the organizers of the event has raised concerns in Ukraine.
– I’ve done genealogy on my mother’s and father’s side, and we don’t even have half of our genes towards Russia. Still, the message said that we are Russian citizens and have strong ties to the Russian state, Muurikainen laughs.
The message also warns about actions that may take place when people arrive in Ukraine. The message can be identified as a scam, for example, because the sender’s address is from a Gmail account.
An amusingly weak attempt
Jussi Muurikainen feels that helping Ukraine is a very important task. Photo from last year’s The Bridge Of Trust event in Lviv. Jussi Muurikainen
Muurikainen directly informed his partners that there is no meaning in the messages.
– Here is a concrete example of hybrid influence, when individuals are also attacked.
The purpose of The Bridge Of Trust event is to help Ukraine and Ukrainian startups. According to Muurikainen, the event has no political intentions.
– Of course, this arouses reactions on the other side. They don’t care because they are at war with the entire West. That’s probably where these come from.
– The partners must have directly guessed that there is something fishy here. The claims were so ridiculous that it was a bit of a weak attempt to influence, says Muurikainen.
In addition to Finland, the partners come from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Baltic countries and Poland.
Eastern European Slush
Finnish volunteers were welcomed in Lviv in western Ukraine at the end of June. Ukrinform/Shutterstock, AOP
Muurikainen has talked about his helping work on Linkedin, among other things, and the mess made the troublemakers happy.
– Attacks and troll messages started coming to my publications. All my social media accounts were tried to be hacked, after which I made proper protections for them.
– At the time, I made partner announcements related to the event on Linkedin, and the troublemakers have dug up contacts from there, Muurikainen says.
Muurikainen has been doing aid work on behalf of Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
This year’s event will take place at the end of September. It functions as a parallel event to the larger IT Arena event, which Muurikainen calls the “Eastern European Slush”.
– We export investment money to Ukraine. When the reconstruction phase starts, it is the right moment to do business in Ukraine.
– Big money is flowing into reconstruction from all over the world, and the networks must be built now. If we wait for the end of the war, we will be late in Finland, says Muurikainen.
Towards Ukraine
The Bridge Of Trust receives support from, among others, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Muurikainen, the sponsors only cover the costs of the events.
Despite the hybrid operation, Muurikainen plans to travel to Ukraine in September full of energy.
– Our team is more excited about the fact that in a certain way we have been noticed, Muurikainen characterizes.
Muurikainen is the founder of Liquido VC, a company that supports startup companies.
Keskisuomalainen was the first to report on the messages received by Muurikainen’s partners.
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