The commission of Milli Majlis (Azerbaijani Parliament) on countering external interference and hybrid threats has issued a statement regarding the hybrid attack carried out by the international non-governmental organization Global Witness against COP29, APA reports.
The statement says that on November 8, an international NGO called Global Witness released two news reports about its "investigation": The articles titled "COP officials facilitate fossil fuel talks for fake investor during undercover investigation" and "COP29 for oil deals" shared disformation aimed at misleading the international community, citing a videoconference meeting with COP29 CEO Elnur Soltanov.
As a result of the joint investigation of the commission of Milli Majlis on countering external interference and hybrid threats with relevant agencies, it was revealed that on September 13 of this year, a conversation via the Zoom platform between Elnur Soltanov and a person named Steven Li, who presented himself as a representative of a company based in Hong Kong took place. At the same time, the other party did not warn E. Soltanov about the video recording of that meeting.
It was revealed that “Global Witness” committed actions that entailed legal consequences, using a method that was incompatible with the general principles of action adopted by non-governmental organizations in the world, more reminiscent of the work of special services.
Thus, Global Witness targeted COP29, contacted the COP29 team, and abused the trust of a number of officials to participate in a coordinated information operation and disinformation campaign against Azerbaijan on the eve of COP29 by using cyber fraud and impersonation technologies prohibited by law, creating a fake company called EC Capital Holdings, its website (www.eccapitalholdings.com) and a fake profile of Steven Lee on the LinkedIn platform.
It was noted that Global Witness was provided with information support in this operation by the BBC: "The BBC's article titled "COP29 chief exec filmed promoting fossil fuel deals" admits that the filming was conducted secretly by Global Witness, but at the same time, contrary to the principles of impartial journalism, part of the meeting is shared, thereby allowing information manipulation. The commission on countering external interference and hybrid threats considers these activities carried out by Global Witness and the BBC to be a hybrid attack and will appeal to the relevant state institutions for a more in-depth investigation of the issue."
