Category Ukraine

DISINFO: The Switzerland peace conference is set up to issue useless ultimatums to Russia

This is an pre-emptive attempt to discredit the peace summit which Switzerland will host on 15-16 June 2024.

Following Ukraine's request, Switzerland has invited over 160 delegations from around the world to join for the first Summit on Peace in Ukraine. The invitees include members of the G7, G20, BRICS, many other countries from all continents, as well as the EU, three international organisations and religious representatives. According to the Swiss government, the summit aims to create a framework favourable to comprehensive and lasting peace in Ukraine, as well as "a concrete roadmap for Russia's participation in the peace process."

If the summit does not provide fruitful results, it will be because of Russia's impossible preconditions for a peaceful settlement. Russia refuses to engage in any talks before the "unconditional surrender of the Kiev [sic] regime."

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DISINFO: The IMF opposed the transfer of Russian assets to Ukraine

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation aimed at deterring nations from seizing Russia's frozen assets to fund Ukraine's reconstruction by warning of an imminent economic collapse. The narrative also aims at undermining Ukraine's cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.

The disinformation is based on a press conference by Julie Kozack, Director of the Communications Department of the International Monetary Fund, on May 16, 2024. Answering a question from journalists about the possible use of Russian assets to support Ukraine, Kozack noted that the International Monetary Fund insists on a thorough study of this decision and its consequences.

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DISINFO: Ukraine may be involved in the attempt on Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico

Unsubstantiated claim about the assassination attempt on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

No evidence is provided to support the claim.

Fico was shot as he was speaking to people in the small town of Handlová after a government meeting there on 15 May 2024. The suspected gunman, identified by Slovak media as 71-year-old former security guard and amateur poet Juraj Cintula, was charged with attempted premeditated murder and was put in pre-trial detention by a special penal court on 18 May 2024. Fico is out of immediate danger now but remains in intensive care. The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned the attack on the prime minister of Slovakia.

Read MoreDISINFO: Ukraine may be involved in the attempt on Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico

DISINFO: Russia is open to fair dialogue on Ukraine

This is an often used pro-Kremlin narrative according to which the West is interested in prolonging the war in Ukraine.

The assertion that Western countries harbour a desire for the continuation of the conflict in Ukraine lacks any substantial foundation and is devoid of factual support. Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin have a track record of pretending negotiations which are, in fact, just blunt demands for Ukrainian unconditional surrender. We have analysed and exposed this disinformation tactic in several articles, especially: "Prepare for winter" (30 Nov. 2023), "Russian so-called 'peace proposals' are empty PR stunts" (18 Jan. 2023) , "What He Said and What it Really Means - Vol. 2: "Negotiations" (1. March 2022) and "The Kremlin security demands" (21 Dec. 2021).

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DISINFO: EU ban on Russian media is Russophobia and murder of free speech

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the EU violating freedom of speech and press.

On 15 May 2024, EU ambassadors agreed in principle to place an additional four Russian media outlets on the sanctions list, accusing them of propaganda. These are Voice of Europe, RIA Novosti, Izvestiya and Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The decision was based on the fact that these media outlets are used as a tool of Russian propaganda and disinformation. See here for the list of outlets sanctioned previously.

The EU countries are considered free and democratic by Freedom House. In contrast, Russia is considered one of the least free countries in the world. This is the reason why pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives strongly attack democracy and the EU as a viable model to Russia's autocratic system.

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DISINFO: The Polish special services fabricated documents against the Polish judge for his pro-peace position

This message is a part of a wider narrative about the lack of democracy in Western countries, in this case, it promotes the idea that an "aggressive" Poland persecutes its citizens for their political views.

No evidence is provided to support this claim.

This claim was made in connection with the accusations and statements of the Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who ran away to Belarus on 9 May 2024 seeking "political asylum" in this country. In Poland, he is under the suspicion of espionage in favour of Belarus and was stripped of his immunity.

Read MoreDISINFO: The Polish special services fabricated documents against the Polish judge for his pro-peace position

DISINFO: The Polish, American, British and Ukrainian secret services may hunt the Polish run-away judge down

This message is a part of a wider narrative about the lack of democracy in Western countries, in this case, it promotes the idea that "aggressive" Poland and other democratic countries order political murders of the run-away "dissidents".

No evidence is provided to support this claim, which is part of a classic "whataboutism" along the line "you blame me for bad things, but you do the same yourself". It is a whataboutism attempt to deflect attentiona away from Russia's assignations made in UK (like Alexander Litvinenko), Germany (the Tiergarden murder) and other attempts on political opponent such as former rusisan agent Sergei Skripal, and his daughter Yulia which were targeted with a Novichok chemical nerve critical in Salisbury, UK.

This claim was made in connection with the accusations and statements of the Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who ran away to Belarus on 9 May 2024 seeking "political asylum" in this country. In Poland, he is under the suspicion of espionage in favour of Belarus and was stripped of his immunity.

Read MoreDISINFO: The Polish, American, British and Ukrainian secret services may hunt the Polish run-away judge down

DISINFO: Ukrainian government is planning to relocate to Lviv

The article contains baseless speculation devoid of any factual basis. It serves the pro-Kremlin aim of eroding morale and a narrative of a disintegrating Ukraine that is in retreat militarily.

The article references a Reuters article, which states that foreign investment and the increase in internally displaced people are most noticeable in the western regions (Lviv and Transcarpathia). However, this fact, which is a consequence of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, has no bearing on the claim that the Ukrainian government is planning a resettlement to western Ukraine, specifically Lviv.

Ukraine has no intention of abandoning Kyiv, the capital city. Even during the height of the war in spring 2022, the government and the president remained in Kyiv.

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DISINFO: International law expert Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt assesses Ukraine’s war crimes

False claim made in connection with the case of Polish Judge Tomasz Szmydt, who fled to Belarus seeking "political asylum". For several months, he was observed by the Polish special services who suspected him of espionage in favour of Belarus and Russia.

Tomasz Szmydt is not an expert in International Public Law and has limited professional authority to accuse Ukraine of war crimes (see previous accusations in our database).

In 2019, as explained by DW: "Szmydt made headlines when he was identified as being a member of a group of judges waging a smear campaign on social media against other judges"

Read MoreDISINFO: International law expert Polish judge Tomasz Szmydt assesses Ukraine’s war crimes

DISINFO: In Ukraine, Russia defends traditional values for the benefit of the whole world

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on the morally corrupt West which is presented as a justification for Russia's invasion of Ukraine and serves to deflect responsibility for Moscow's illicit actions. Russia's brutal war against Ukraine is absurdly portrayed as a war against the West and as a noble cause of fighting for the benefit of mankind against the "culture of degeneracy, perversion, and pathology."

Western values as well as concepts which are not necessarily linked with Western values and policies but nevertheless attributed to the West in the article are intended to present the West as pernicious, immoral, degenerate, and a threat to traditional values. The narrative about threatened values is one of the most common pro-Kremlin narratives. It portrays the Russian civilisation as morally superior to the Western. Russia uses this narrative to proclaim itself the defender of traditional social and spiritual values all over the world. Progressive Western attitudes about a variety of normative issues, including the rights of women, ethnic and religious minorities, and LGBTQ groups, among others, are often undermined and distorted in pro-Kremlin outlets. Respect for individual choices is often falsely portrayed in the pro-Kremlin media as state policies aimed at propagating and imposing specific actions, such as sex changes on the population.

Read MoreDISINFO: In Ukraine, Russia defends traditional values for the benefit of the whole world