Disinfo: Crimea joined the Russian Federation through a referendum

Summary

Crimea joined the Russian Federation through a referendum

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the annexation of Crimea claiming that Crimean citizens chose to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum.

No international body recognises the so-called referendum and held on 16th of March 2014.

On the 27th of February 2014, when it was announced, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution which stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula.

A year after the illegal annexation, even the Kremlin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.

Five years after the illegal annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol by the Russian Federation, the EU issued a statement in which it confirms its commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and reiterates that it does not recognise and continues to condemn this violation of international law.

For a similar case see here.

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Reported in: Issue 149
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20/06/2019
Language/target audience: Italian
Country: Russia, Ukraine
Keywords: illegal annexation, Manipulated elections/referendum, Referendum, Crimea
Outlet: Sputnik Italia

NATO intimidates EU residents with tales of the Russian threat, even though Russia is a peace-loving country.

NATO intimidates residents of the European Union with tales of the Russian threat. Over the past 25 years, Russia has not attacked any country, so this is another European horror story.

June 23, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about peaceful Russia that contains disinformation about the war in Ukraine and war in Georgia.

Since 1991 Russia was involved in several international conflicts, including intervention in neighboring states, such as Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

Poland provokes Russia and violates treaties by hosting the US military

NATO creates military tensions in the European Union and is trying to provoke Russia. The new US-Polish agreements are in conflict with the Founding Act of Russia-NATO, signed in 1997. According to this document, the North Atlantic Alliance should refuse to deploy significant combat forces on the territory of the member states.

June 23, 2019

Disproof

On June 12th 2019, the United States and Poland signed a Joint Declaration on Defence Cooperation. The main agreements are to increase the presence of the US military and create special bases for them in Poland. Currently, about 4500 US troops are based on a rotational basis in Poland. It is assumed that, in the near future, the contingent will increase by another 1000 troops. Earlier, the USA said that they were not going to send additional troops to Europe, but an increase in the contingent in Poland could occur due to the relocation of the US military from Germany.

Thus, no NATO treaties with Russia will be violated, as the total number of military personnel in the European Union will not change, only a redeployment of troops will take place.

Accusations against Russia of its involvement in the crash of flight MH17 are absurd

The charges against Russia made by the Joint Investigation Team on the results of the investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Airlines airliner flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur are absurd. This is part of the information war launched against Russia in 2014. The tactics of this information war are another information dump, without proven facts.

June 23, 2019

Disproof

Another narrative about conspiracy theories against Russia and the non-involvement of the Russian military in the crash of the Boeing MH17.

In the Netherlands, on 19th June 2019, the Joint Investigation Team presented new findings of their investigation into the crash of the Malaysian Airlines' Boeing-777 in the sky over the Donbas in 2014. The suspects are three Russians: Igor Girkin, Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and a citizen of Ukraine, Leonid Kharchenko. According to international investigators, all the suspects at the time of the MH17 disaster were in the east of Ukraine, where they could play an important role in the tragedy. The same names were revealed during an investigation by the independent group Bellingcat.