Fake Finnish drone safety instructions traced back to Russian social media

A fake emergency instruction sheet on protecting against drones, circulated in Finland under the name of Finnish authorities, first appeared in Russian social media before spreading in Finland, an investigation by national broadcaster Yle reveals.

The forged document, falsely attributed to Finland’s rescue services, began circulating in late March after three Ukrainian drones crashed in southeastern Finland. According to Yle’s findings, a video featuring the fake instructions was initially shared in Russian-language social media groups before appearing in Finnish-language forums.

The video, posted on March 31 in the Russian social media platform Vkontakte by an account named “erikoisoperaation tilannekuva” (Special Operation Situation Update)—a term used by Russia to refer to its war in Ukraine—shows a person holding a Finnish-language “instruction sheet” while a voice with a strong Finnish accent comments in Russian: “The war has arrived here too.” The account has hundreds of thousands of followers.

The instructions later spread to Finnish-language groups on April 1, with some posts claiming—without evidence—that the fake leaflets had been distributed in mailboxes in southeastern Finland. Several posts were removed after Yle exposed the forgery.

Video originated from pro-Russian networks
The investigation traced the video’s early spread to Sergei Mordovin, an Estonian-Russian figure affiliated with Estonia’s Centre Party, who shared it in a large public Facebook group for Russian-speaking Estonians on March 31. Mordovin told Yle he only removed the post after being contacted, admitting he had not verified its authenticity.

“After clarifying the situation, I decided to delete the post to avoid misleading people,” Mordovin wrote in an email, adding that he had received the video from a Telegram channel covering Finland.

Expert: Fits Russian disinformation tactics
Jukka Savolainen, network director at the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, told Yle the case aligns with Russian disinformation strategies aimed at undermining Finnish support for Ukraine.

“One of their key goals is to influence us in a way that weakens Finland’s backing for Ukraine,” Savolainen said, noting that while the forgery may not be part of a sophisticated operation, it reflects “the lowest creative tier of Russia’s disinformation machine.”

He stressed that stoking fear over Ukrainian drones serves Russian interests, though the actual risk to people in Finland remains low. Savolainen added that he could not recall any prior cases in Finland where authorities’ names had been used to distribute fake instructions.

The three Ukrainian drones that crashed in Finland in late March had reportedly strayed off course during Ukrainian airstrikes targeting areas near Finland’s eastern border with Russia.