After the mass shooting of Hanukkah celebrants on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, the Kremlin-linked disinformation network known as “Matryoshka” has been promoting claims of an alleged “Ukrainian trail” and frightening Europeans with threats of new terrorist attacks. The watchdog Bot Blocker project (@antibot4navalny), which has been monitoring the network, shared its findings with The Insider.
One video circulating on Twitter (X) and Bluesky is disguised as content produced by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). It claims that experts found markings on the shotguns used by the attackers in Sydney that are supposedly applied to weapons delivered to Ukraine. The video falsely claims that Ukraine has become the “largest source of weapons for the black market.”
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Another video, produced in English, uses the symbolism of Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst). It begins with real information about planned terrorist attacks in German cities during the Christmas holidays, then mentions the shooting on the Australian beach — while claiming the perpetrators were connected to “representatives of Ukraine.” The video contains an error revealing poor fact-checking: it states that both shooters in Australia were killed, whereas only one was shot dead, while the second was wounded and detained. A similar video following the same template includes French subtitles and the symbols of French government agencies.
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The bots are also spreading images of alarming graffiti that, supposedly, appeared in Berlin. The images depict a Christmas tree with a time bomb beneath it, as well as the date 25.12.2025. One of the posts, posing as an Instagram story from the BBC, read “Graffiti warning of a terrorist attack appeared in three boroughs of Berlin.”
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The attack in Sydney took place on Sunday, Dec. 14, the first day of Hanukkah. The attackers opened fire on people gathered on Bondi Beach for an event organized by the Chabad movement. Fifteen people were killed and several dozen were wounded. According to police, the shooting was carried out by 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was shot dead at the scene, and his 24-year-old son, Naveed Akram, who was wounded and is currently hospitalized. Flags of the terrorist organization Islamic State were found in their vehicle.
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