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Disinfo: Crimeans were always eager to reconnect with Russia

Summary

There was no need for rigging the referendum in 2014. The Crimean population was always eager to reconnect with their Russian homeland.

NATO and the European Union have every interest in maintaining a conflictual situation.

Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative on the illegal annexation of Crimea. No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced 27th of February and held less than three weeks later.

On March 27th, 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it 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.

Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, recognised April 17th 2015 that "our soldiers were deployed in Crimea to help the inhabitants express their opinion" (Interfax).

No evidence given to support that "NATO and the European Union have every interest in maintaining a conflictual situation" in Ukraine.

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  • Reported in: Issue 138
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 25/02/2019
  • Language/target audience: French
  • Country: Russia, Ukraine
  • Keywords: EU, West, Manipulated elections/referendum, NATO, Crimea
  • Outlet: Sputnik French

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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Poland wants to dismember Ukraine and reestablish a Polish empire

The Polish doctrine of IV Rzeczpospolita (The Fourth Republic) is part of the US doctrine of global dominance. Poland plans to reestablish a Polish empire stretching from the Baltics to the Black Sea. Poland’s neoimperialist activities were one of the main reasons for the catastrophe in Ukraine. A coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014 was in Poland’s interests. A few years earlier, Polish media speculated that Poland will not be able to digest the Russian part of Ukraine, though it could swallow Ukraine’s western part. Thus, Poland is invested in Ukraine’s collapse.

February 25, 2019
Disproof

Conspiracy theory with no evidence given.

IV Rzeczpospolita, or Fourth Polish Republic, was a plan for moral revolution and political change put forth in the late 1990s by the Polish conservative philosopher Rafał Matyja and used in public discourse to describe the 2005-2007 period, when the government of Law and Justice was in power. However, this concept has nothing to do with establishing a Polish empire at the expense of Poland's eastern neighbours, including Ukraine - it is a conspiracy theory. Read more about the use of conspiracy here.

The US government silenced hackers that threatened to expose its involvement in 9/11

In the last days of 2018, the hacker group known as “The Dark Overlord” announced that it had stolen thousands of documents proving the involvement of the US government in the 9/11 attacks, in exchange for which they requested 2 million dollars. After not receiving the payment, they crowdfunded and published the first two batches of documents. But nothing else has been heard from The Dark Overlord for more than a month, so there are two options: either they got the money from the US government, or they were silenced by other means.

February 25, 2019
Disproof

This is a conspiracy theory, presented without any evidence as an "analysis".

It relays a recurring narrative that suggests US government involvement in the 9/11 attacks; an unfounded claim that has been extensively refuted. In this case, baseless speculation adds a new layer to the conspiracy, with claims that US authorities may have somehow 'dealt' with people who intended to expose evidence of such involvement.

A unit of female snipers from the Baltic States has arrived in Donbas

A group of female snipers from the Baltic states has arrived in Donbas.

February 25, 2019
Disproof

No evidence given.

Disinformation about foreign mercenaries in Ukraine has been appearing in disinformation outlets since 2015. In some cases, these were allegedly Baltic snipers, while in others they were snipers from Georgia, female snipers from Poland, and even a whole NATO brigade.

This narrative seeks to suggest that EU Member States pose a threat to their neighbours.

EU countries, including the Baltic States, condemn Russia's aggression in Ukraine, as clearly expressed in numerous resolutions and decisions on sanctions for this aggression.

The presence of female snipers from the Baltic states has been something of an urban legend in Russian military folklore for several years, beginning as early as during the Russian occupation of Afghanistan in the early 1980s.