On Channel One, a popular old meme was given out as fake, which is allegedly massively distributed on behalf of employees of the Russian law enforcement agencies and "Wagnerites" during the rebellion of the Wagner PMC. It begins with the words "The father of an acquaintance works in …".
It first appeared on the Dvach imageboard, and since then it has often been used in social networks in ironic comments on disturbing news. Usually it mentions a certain relative or acquaintance of the author who works in a government agency. Then it is described that he is returning from some fictitious meeting or meeting, warning relatives and friends about the danger, urging him to stock up on food or leave.
The first channel described the situation as if this message was published at the direction of some centralized structure in order to misinform the population or sow panic in society.
Apparently, the editors of the TV channel took this interpretation of the pro-Kremlin news agency ANNA-NEWS, which originated from the Telegram channel, which published a post about the “activation of bots” in Runet around 15:00 on June 24. The agency reported that “working out is proceeding according to the usual scenario” and further cited the text of the meme ending with the phrase “it seems that it has begun …”:
The purpose of this campaign is one – to sow panic among the population. Other stuffing is also aimed at this: about "riots" in prisons, the "flight" of the Russian leadership, explosions in large cities.
On June 24, the head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after statements that the places of deployment of his mercenaries were fired upon by the forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, began the "March of Justice" to Moscow. His forces entered Rostov-on-Don, and also moved towards the capital through the Voronezh and Lipetsk regions.
At the end of the day, the press service of Alexander Lukashenko announced that, on behalf of Putin, he managed to agree with Prigozhin to stop the movement of "Wagnerites" in Russia. Later, the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, said that all charges against the head of the Wagner PMC would be dropped, and he would "leave for Belarus."