Disinfo: 12 snipers from Lithuania and Georgia arrived in Donbas

Summary

12 snipers from Lithuania and Georgia arrived in Donbas to fight for the Ukrainian forces.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation since 2015 on foreign mercenaries. Instructors of the Lithuanian Armed Forces have been contributing to the training of Ukrainian soldiers since August 2015. The military mission in Ukraine was launched to deliver training to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Lithuanian soldiers do not take part in combat actions of the Antiterrorist Operation (ATO) in Eastern Ukraine Further debunking by Delfi.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 105
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 22/04/2018
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Lithuania, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Foreign mercenaries, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: President Poroshenko proposes Crimeans be deprived of Ukrainian citizenship

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko intends to deprive of Ukrainian citizenship all those who live in Crimea and were forced to take Russian passports because of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula.

Disproof

President Poroshenko has put forth amendments to the existing citizenship law to be considered by parliament. The changes the President proposes will not deprive Crimeans of Ukrainian citizenship as Russian media claim, but rather will guarantee those citizenship rights. Currently Ukraine’s citizenship law states that a person loses Ukrainian citizenship when he or she voluntarily takes on another citizenship. Poroshenko proposes that the law be amended to reflect cases when people take other citizenship unwillingly. The explanatory note Poroshenko submitted with the amendment proposal to parliament establishes “additional grounds for the loss of citizenship” but provides safeguards for those who live in the occupied territories of Ukraine”. Willing collaboration with Russian occupying authorities, participation in elections or serving in the army of another state though are grounds for loss of citizenship. The pro-Kremlin outlets completely ignore the fact that the proposed amendments safeguard Ukrainian citizenship in cases where new citizenship is taken under coercion as is the case in illegally annexed Crimea. Read more on Stopfake.org

Disinfo: Ukraine recognizes it cannot return Crimea

Ukraine has admitted that it is incapable of returning Crimea to Kyiv’s rule. Ukraine is one step away from recognizing Crimea as Russian.

Disproof

No evidence given. The disinformation stories originated in the deliberate falsification of comments by the Ukrainian Deputy Minister for the temporarily occupied territories Heorhiy Tuka during an appearance on Ukrainian television channel 112, where he stated that Ukraine currently could do very little to eject Moscow from Crimea but must continue to work through diplomatic and political channels to rectify the situation. Tuka goes on to say that Russia will at some point not only have to answer for Crimea’s illegal annexation, but will also have to return the peninsula. Further debunking by Stopfake.org.

Disinfo: For 235 years, Crimea is Russia's

For 235 years, Crimea is Ours [Russia’s]. On April 19, 1783 Empress Catherine the Great issued a Manifesto on Crimea’s accession to the Russian Empire.

Disproof

Crimea is part of Ukraine. In 1783 Catherine II (the Great) annexed Crimean peninsula. After that, rivalry between the Russians and the Turks persisted, and in the Crimean War (1853–56) it expanded into a broader European conflict. When the Revolution of 1917 led to the collapse of the Russian Empire, the remaining Crimean Tatars declared Crimea to be an independent democratic republic. The peninsula was reorganized as the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921. After the war Crimea was downgraded from an autonomous republic to an oblast (region) of the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, and in 1954 it was transferred to Ukraine. Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014.