Disinfo: Al Baghdadi might have been a US agent

Summary

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.

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.

The claim that ISIS was created by the CIA is a recurrent Russian narrative which has already been debunked often. In reality, the United States is committed to degrade and destroy this terrorist organisation. You can see other examples of disinformation on alleged US and Western backing for jihadist groups here, here, here and here.

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publication/media

arabic.rt.com
  • Reported in: Issue 171
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30/10/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Arabic
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Iraq, US
  • Keywords: Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: Civilians in the Finnish concentration camps in Carelia are victims of genocide

Civilians in the Finnish concentration camps in Russia’s Carelia during WWII are victims of genocide and should ask for a compensation from Finnish authorities.

Oct 29, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation message focusing on Finland and Russia's Karelia during the WWII. This time the topic peaked on pro-Kremlin media's agenda in October 2019 after Russia's Security Service FSB released "secret documents" about the conditions in the Finnish camps. The researchers have studied the treatment of civilians detained in the Finnish camps established in the Finnish-occupied Soviet Karelia in WWII, and nothing suggests Finns aimed at a genocide of Russians or Slavic nations. The word genocide is frequently used in pro-Kremlin disinformation, but it seldom corresponds to the actual definition of a genocide. Recently, the emphasis of the disinformation campaign has been on Sandarmokh, where 7000-9000 victims of Stalin's terror were executed in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, 1937-1938. Hundreds of monuments have been erected in Sandarmokh to commemorate the victims. To distract audiences from discussing Stalin's era repressions, beginning 2016, a disinformation message started being spread that among the dead were Soviet prisoners of war shot by invading Finns during 1941-44. There is no evidence to support the claim. Read the full debunk for Sandarmokh here.

Disinfo: Ukraine was created by Joseph Stalin

Do you know who created your country? It [Ukraine] was created by Stalin, whom you hate.

Oct 29, 2019
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the history of Ukraine and Ukrainian statehood. The history of Ukraine dates back to the times of the Kyivan Rus’ in the IX-XIII centuries. As a nation-state, Ukraine was formed during the XVI-XIX centuries when it was divided by major European states: the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita) and the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires. However, in the middle of the XVII century, parts of Ukraine's territories received independence from Poland and created an independent Cossacks Hetmanate. Later, it signed a military and political cooperation deal with Moscow, which was then used by Russian rulers to deprive Hetmanate of its sovereign rights. In the early XX century, after the collapse of the Russian empire, the Ukrainian People’s Republic was proclaimed. In Western Ukraine, which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Western Ukrainian National Republic was created. On 22 January 1919, the two states signed a Unification Act creating a unified state. Other territories wanted to join the new Ukrainian state, such as Northern Bukovyna and Crimea, and adopted appeals to the government of a unified Ukrainian People’s Republic. For a historical perspective see here [in Ukrainian].