Disinfo: Allegations of Russian role in Vrbetice explosion part of Russophobic smear campaign

Summary

Allegations of Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbetice explosion are an attempt to kill two birds with one stone. First, to discredit the Sputnik V vaccine; second, to force Russia out of the tender for the renovation of the Dukovany NPP.

The present accusations against Moscow shares some similarities with previous anti-Russian campaigns, namely the alleged Skripal poisoning and the MH17 crash: neither was properly investigated, but both were used as a pretext to impose sanctions on Russia.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative dismissing any allegations of Moscow's malign activity abroad as "Russophobic."

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Interior Minister Jan Hamacek announced on Saturday 17 April 2021 that the Czech intelligence services collected evidence demonstrating Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion. More specifically, it implicates Unit 29155, a division of Russia's GRU agency previously linked to "assassination attempts and other subversive actions across Europe." Prague's findings were independently corroborated in the course of an investigation jointly conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czech Republic).

The involvement of Russian state actors in the MH17 crash and the Skripal poisoning has been established beyond reasonable doubt. See e.g. here and here for our debunking of these claims.

Pro-Kremlin coverage of the Vrbetice incident resembles Moscow's standard approach to damage control in the face of incriminating evidence: knee-jerk denial of wrongdoing, attribution of the charges to Western Russophobia, and mass production of "alternative explanations." This template has been applied in the coverage of the MH17 crash, the Skripal poisoning, and the Navalny poisoning.

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cz.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 240
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Czech
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Czech Republic, Russia
  • Keywords: Skripal, MH17, Sergei Skripal, Secret services, GRU, Russophobia, Anti-Russian, Diplomacy with Russia, Vrbetice explosion
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Disinfo: Biden copied sanctions on Russia from his predecessors, based on ridiculous claims of interference

Biden’s White House just approved a new round of sanctions against Russia that is practically a copy of those implemented by Donald Trump and Barack Obama, both in the reasons argued and in the quantity and quality of evidences. Of course, given that these are old sanctions with a new envelope, there had to be some punishment for the alleged Russian interference in the US 2020 elections, allegedly to favour Donald Trump. The same Donald Trump that for four years approved several packages of sanctions against Russia, by the way. And as in 2016, the alleged interference strategy would have been based on tiny and unknown websites who have their own 15 minutes of glory only when they are mentioned by the White House press conferences.

Apr 20, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about sanctions and Russia as innocent of any misdeed.

This disinformation message implies that, given that Donald Trump as US president also imposed sanctions against Russia, and because the recent round of sanctions singled out some relatively unknown Russian outlets such as SouthFront, NewsFront, InfoRos and the Strategic Culture Foundation, the claim that Russia interfered in the 2020 US election to support Donald Trump is ridiculous.

Disinfo: Accusations of Russia's involvement in the Vrbětice bombings are baseless

Accusations of Russia's involvement in the [Vrbětice] warehouse bombings in the Czech Republic are baseless, untrue, and shameful.

Apr 20, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Vrbětice ammunition warehouse bombings in the Czech Republic. The claim was neither counterbalanced nor critically challenged in the article.

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the temporary Minister of Foreign Affairs Jan Hamáček announced on 17 April 2021 that the Czech intelligence services had collected evidence demonstrating Russian involvement in the 2014 Vrbětice explosion.

Disinfo: Navalny’s organisation is plotting a colour revolution

Several of Alexei Navalny’s “skeleton” organisations have been plotting a colour revolution sponsored by foreign institutions engaged in destructive activities against Russia.

Apr 20, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Alexei Navalny and Western Russophobia. The claim that the calls made by Navalny’s team to protest are foreign engineered colour revolutions is a baseless accusation.

According to the pro-Kremlin media, protests and civil uprisings are never manifestations of genuine popular discontent and political desires manifested by the population, but are foreign engineered colour revolutions directed and funded by Western intelligence services or other Western actors, to destabilise targeted foreign states and bring about regime change. The belief or conviction, that you can mastermind from abroad and run for long periods of time foreign countries, neglects fundamental dynamics in democratic aspirations among ordinary people. As such, this conviction disrespects and disregards the local population.