Disinfo: Closer cooperation with Europe turned into a catastrophe for Ukraine

Summary

As for Europe, it has already closed its borders; it does not need Ukraine. We all saw the consequences of the Maidan and what Ukraine turned into after the signing of these European integration documents: enterprises were closed and state property has been privatised in large numbers.

Disproof

No evidence given. Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative targeting EU-Ukraine cooperation. It is also consistent with previous narratives alleging that the Euromaidan is one of many colour revolutions prepared by the West and the EU. The EU is the largest donor to Ukraine. Since 2014, the EU has provided Ukraine with billions of Euros of assistance. On average, the EU has given Ukraine €650 million. From 2014 to 2017, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development provided an additional €3.5 billion. In general, the EU has funded projects in the humanitarian field, provided assistance to stabilise the macro-financial situation, given grants and loans for capacity building, energy reforms and fighting against corruption. The free trade agreement improved trade in agricultural products, thus benefitting Ukraine. Currently, Ukrainian exporters have a right to export their products to the EU without paying customs duties on some products. Based on 2016-2019 numbers, Ukraine was among the top 3 suppliers of agricultural products to the EU. In 2017, Ukrainian agricultural export increased by 8.5% bringing an additional $477.7 million of income. In 2018-2019 financial year, Ukrainian exporters sold products for a record €6.3 billion. Already in 2014, the EU has cancelled import tax on 95% of Ukrainian goods. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU as a result of Russian pressure. For more cases about the Euromaidan protests, see here. See a similar case alleging that Ukraine's chances of joining the EU are miserable, the economy is destroyed and industry in ruins.

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publication/media

News Front - YouTube, Russian (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 188
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 12/03/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: European Union, Abandoned Ukraine, AA/DCFTA
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Disinfo: The MH17 show trial is not about justice, but information warfare

The MH17 tragedy is back in the news after the start of this case’s show trial in the Netherlands, which isn’t about bringing the alleged perpetrators to justice or helping the victims’ families find closure, but waging information warfare against Russia in an attempt to “conclusively” pin the blame for this crime on its supposed proxies in Eastern Ukraine so as to ruin President Putin’s international reputation once and for all.

Mar 11, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aiming to discredit the International Joint Investigation (JIT) into the downing of flight MH17 and the subsequent trial. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) - which is comprised of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service officials and the Dutch police, along with police and criminal justice authorities from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia and Ukraine - has concluded that flight MH17 was shot down on 17 July 2014 by a missile of the 9M38 series, launched by a BUK-TELAR, from farmland in the vicinity of Pervomaiskiy. At that time, the area was controlled by pro-Russian fighters. The BUK-TELAR was brought in from the territory of the Russian Federation and subsequently, after having shot down flight MH17, was taken back to the Russian Federation. The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has concluded that the BUK-TELAR used to down MH17 originates from the 53rd Anti Aircraft Missile brigade, a unit of the Russian army from Kursk in the Russian Federation. On the basis of the investigation conducted by the JIT, the Dutch Public Persecution service will persecute Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, Sergey Nikolayevich Dubinskiy, Oleg Yuldashevich Pulatov, and Leonid Volodymyrovych Kharchenko for causing the crash of MH17 and murdering the 298 persons on board. The public hearing is started on 9 March 2020 in the Netherlands. The European Union and NATO have called on the Russian Federation to accept its responsibility and to fully cooperate with all efforts to establish accountability. On the basis of the JIT’s conclusions, the Netherlands and Australia are convinced that Russia is responsible for the deployment of the BUK installation that was used to down MH17. The two governments are formally holding Russia accountable.

Read other disinformation narratives alleging that The Netherlands is going to sabotage the MH17 trial, The MH17 trial will be a show process, and that There was no BUK, MH17 crashed because of an explosion on board.

Disinfo: Most coronavirus patients are anti-American

Most people who caught the coronavirus are opposed to America.

Mar 11, 2020
Disproof

Conspiracy theory about the 2019-nCoV coronavirus.

There is no evidence that suggests that the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) is used as a weapon against other states. It comes from a family of viruses that include other viruses such as SARS and MERS. It was first reported in the Chinese city of Wuhan in central China and has been rapidly spreading with new cases being reported in the Asia-Pacific region as well as Europe, North America and the Middle East, causing almost 30,000 deaths as of 29 March 2020.

Disinfo: Turkey-Greece crisis has taken NATO to its limit

What if a NATO member attacks another member, as it is happening now with Turkey and Greece? In Greece, we are seeing NATO at the edge. Europe is completely dependent on the US.

Mar 11, 2020
Disproof

Despite increasing tensions at the Greek-Turkish border, the situation is far from taking NATO at the edge. This is part of a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on NATO, portraying it as a useless, decadent and Russophobic organisation with no role in today’s world. You can see other examples in our database, such as NATO’s alleged obsolescence, cannibalistic character, fascistic tendencies and links to white supremacist ideology, its never-ending provocations, its attempts to block Moscow in its sphere of influence, the Alliance's permanent targeting of Russia and Belarus, its role as a US subjugation tool for other countries and its unreliability to defend its members or the claims that NATO is such a disaster that the US didn’t want its help after 9/11 and that it is spreading the coronavirus in the US.