Disinfo: Around 2500 people were killed in NATO's bombing campaign

Summary

In 1999, the NATO coalition, including the United States, bombed Yugoslavia for almost three months. According to the Serbian authorities, around 2500 people were killed. 12,500 people were injured.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the number of civilian casualties of the NATO bombing and war in former Yugoslavia. According to the Humanitarian Law center, in Serbia (excluding Kosovo) and Montenegro, 275 persons lost their lives in the NATO bombings: 180 civilians, 90 members of the Yugoslav Armed Forces and five members of the Ministry of Interior of Serbia. In Kosovo, 484 people were killed: 267 civilians (209 Albanian and 58 non-Albanian), 171 members of the YA, 20 members of the Serbian MUP and 26 members of the KLA (19 of whom died in the NATO bombing of the Dubrava prison, near Istok). Human Rights Watch concludes that as few as 489 and as many as 528 Yugoslav civilians were killed in the ninety separate incidents in Operation Allied Force. The primary purpose of the campaign was to end violence and repression and force Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his military, police and para-military forces from Kosovo (see NATO statement from 1999).

Go to search

publication/media

ru.armeniasputnik.am (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 173
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 31/10/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Kosovo, Yugoslavia, Serbia, US
  • Keywords: Yugoslavia, NATO
see more

Disinfo: Al Baghdadi might have been a US agent

Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi was in the Camp Bucca detention center inside a US base in Iraq for about five years “under the auspices of the United States.” As he was leaving the detention centre, Al-Bahdadid said “see you in New York guys”. This implies that he knew many US officers and soldiers in the detention centre hailed from New York City. There are many question marks about how a terrorist organisation would give allegiance to a leader who had just come out of a US base after five years in detention, and earlier why he had been released without trial, or even not sent to Guantanamo like other terrorists.

Oct 30, 2019
Disproof

Conspiracy theory perpetuating a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that the US has created and is supporting terrorist organisations.

Details of the operation to eliminate Al Baghdadi have been confirmed by the Pentagon, the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Iraqi intelligence. Parts of the footage filmed by US troops involved on it has been released, as announced by US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and president Donald Trump.

Disinfo: Ukraine is doing everything to disrupt the transit of gas for the benefit of the US

Naftogaz is doing everything to disrupt the talks and to put an end to a new contract. This strange behaviour forces Russian analysts to suppose that the Ukrainian company is acting against the national interests because of direct instructions from Washington. The latter does not want a competitive European gas market and, therefore, does not need a Ukrainian gas transmission system.

Oct 30, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative blaming Ukraine for the disruption of the gas talks between Russia and Ukraine and plans to cut gas transit from Russia to the EU. Mixed in there is another often encountered pro-Kremlin disinformation claim blaming the US for trying to monopolise the EU gas market. Ukraine has made it clear that it is interested in and ready to continue the transit of gas from Russia to the EU. On 19 September 2019, during the third round of trilateral gas talks between the EU, Ukraine, and Russia, the Ukrainian delegation confirmed its willingness to sign a new contract for the duration of 10 years under the EU law. Ukraine’s Naftogaz handed over a draft interconnection agreement and a draft standard transmission agreement to Gazprom. Naftogaz reaffirmed its willingness to sign a new contract during the fourth round of negotiations held in Brussels on 28 October. The claim that the U.S. is planning to monopolise the European gas market is an exaggeration. According to Eurostat, Russia was, and remains, the largest supplier of natural gas and petroleum to the EU. Moreover, it has increased its share over the past few years. Whereas in 2017 Russia accounted for 39.3% of all gas imports, in 2018 its share increased to 40.2%. The other large suppliers of natural gas are Norway (35% in 2018), Algeria (11.3%), Qatar (5.8%), and other suppliers – 7.7%. It is the same situation with petroleum where Russia's share is 27.3%; Norway is in second place with 11.2%. As of 2018-2019, the U.S. is only the third biggest supplier of LNG to Europe with a share of 12.6% of all EU LNG imports. For the U.S., EU is also not the biggest purchaser, since it accounts only for 10% of all U.S. LNG exports. Overall, from August 2018 until April 2019, the EU bought in from the U.S. 10.4 billion cubic metres of gas. To compare, in 2018 Russia’s gas exports to the EU reached 202 bcm which set a record.

Disinfo: The West dreams of tearing Belarus apart from Russia and to organise a Ukraine-like scenario

All talk about Belarus’ peaceful mission in Europe or about European Belarus are good chances for the West to tear Belarus apart from Russia and to wage a geopolitical war against Russia from Belarusian territory. The US and EU dream about an anti-Russian scenario in Belarus, similar to the one organised in Ukraine in 2014.

Oct 30, 2019
Disproof

This message is a conspiracy which is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about West-staged colour revolution in Ukraine and plans to do so in Belarus, about Western aggressiveness towards Belarus and Russia, and Western attempts to disrupt Belarusian-Russian relations. The EU has never staged, nor does it intend to stage, a colour revolution in Belarus or any other country. Nothing in the bilateral paths of cooperation suggests that the EU's goal is to make Belarus an anti-Russian country as alleged. Read more about the relations between the EU and Belarus here. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that the US and NATO see Belarus only as part of an anti-Russia bastion, the West's only interest in Belarus is to make it anti-Russian, that the EU plans to take over Russia and to ruin Belarus just as it did to Ukraine, and that the West aims at cultivating anti-Russian sentiments in Belarus.