Disinfo: The CIA ordered its puppet Zelenskyy to extend sanctions against Russian social media

Summary

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy extended sanctions against Russian social media and internet services in the country for another three years. It was not Zelensky’s decision but a Russophobic order of the US Central Intelligence Agency, whose aim is the de-Russification of Ukraine and its transformation into an anti-Russian country. Ukraine doesn’t have a real government but a puppet regime, a junta where US secret services designate the president and pursue a monstrous policy that is destroying the country and launched it to a civil war, suppressed freedom of expression and eliminated democratic institutions. And for its propaganda to work, they need to suppress as much alternative sources of information as possible.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative against Ukraine, portraying it as a non-independent country and falsely accusing its government of suppressing freedom and democracy and of causing the war in Donbas. Contrary to the claim, Ukraine is a sovereign state whose government doesn’t follow orders from abroad. According to the World Press Freedom Index, Ukraine has been constantly improving since 2015, jumping from position 129 in the global ranking in 2015 to position 96 in 2020. Comparatively, Russia holds position 149. Russian social media and internet services were put under sanctions in 2017 by former president Petro Poroshenko to protect people from companies “whose activities threaten information and the cyber security of Ukraine”, according to Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council. These restrictions were controversial at the time, but were also perceived as necessary by Ukrainian authorities in order to confront Russia’s hybrid warfare against Ukraine. Sanctions were extended on May 14, 2020 for another three years not because the CIA ordered it, but as a result of a majoritarian vote in Ukraine’s Rada (Parliament), in which 248 lawmakers backed the extension. Both Ukraine’s security service SBU and the Parliament’s Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence had previously recommended to maintain the restriction in place. See other examples of Russian disinformation on Ukraine in our database, such as claims that the Association Agreement with the EU turned the country into a colony of the West; that George Soros is about to gain control of the country; that the war in Donbass was caused by the EU; that Euromaidan was a US-funded coup; that Ukraine ceased to exist as a state; that it has become a US testing site for biological weapons; or that Freemasons are secretly chipping Ukrainians.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 198
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 15/05/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, Anti-Russian, Ukrainian statehood, CIA, War in Ukraine
see more

Disinfo: The Soviet Union saw no possibility to refuse signing the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

WWII began in September 1939 when Germany assaulted Poland.

The Soviet Union saw no escape from signing this agreement (the “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”) to defer from being a target of Nazi Germany’s aggression, as soon as two major European countries – Britain and France – refused to form an alliance with the USSR to stop Nazi Germany’s attacks on European countries.

Disproof

A recurring disinformation narrative revising the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and distorting the events of the Second World War.

This message is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism and an attempt to portray Russia's role in World War II as non-aggressive. The European Parliament resolution stressed the fact that WWII was an immediate result of the mentioned pact.

Disinfo: UK pushed Hitler to invade Eastern Europe

Britain was the brains that urged (Nazi) Germany to move toward the East. The British were flirting with Adolf Hitler, the leader of Nazi Germany, from the day he came to power in 1933 until 1939.

Disproof

A recurring disinformation narrative distorting the events of the Second World War, and part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism.

This narrative points out to the 1938 Munich Agreement when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain agreed to Hitler's annexation of the Sudetenland, portions of Czechoslovakia with ethnic-German majorities (Czechoslovakia itself was excluded from the negotiations). Chamberlain was aiming back then to avert another massive European war, but as it turned out, later on, it only delayed the conflict while making Hitler more powerful when the war finally came.

Disinfo: The West accuses Russia of spreading disinformation without evidence

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia and China are spreading disinformation to increase influence among NATO countries and the European Union and to destabilise these countries in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, Stoltenberg did not cite specific examples of disinformation from Russia and China. According to him, Russia has turned the mission into a propaganda operation. However, not only the Western Media is engaged in speculation on the topic of coronavirus. Often the US officials also practice unproven accusations and dissemination of misinformation, covering up their failure to fight the infection.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative denying that any Russian media have been involved in spreading disinformation about the coronavirus and aiming to portray any outside criticism of Russia as a symptom of "Russophobia". The European External Action Service has issued special reports listing and detailing disinformation narratives related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of individual cases is approaching 500 (as of 18 May 2020), and each debunk can be accessed through the EUvsDisinfo database. The pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign on the coronavirus has been well documented by both media and governments, and some of their elements were widely reported by Russian and international publications. The coronavirus is a daily topic in pro-Kremlin media, including in state-owned outlets. These messages are characteristic of the pro-Kremlin media’s well-established strategy of using disinformation to amplify divisions, sow distrust and chaos, and exacerbate crisis situations and issues of public concern. Read similar cases: EU cites zero facts about Russia’s alleged disinformation on coronavirus and Europe is blaming others for its problems with claims about alleged coronavirus “Russian disinformation”. See here for further debunking by POLYGRAPH.info.