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Disinfo: Issuing Russian passports to people in Donbas is a humanitarian act

Summary

[Issuing passports to people in Donbas] is Russia’s humanitarian response to a situation which has become unbearable, where people are deprived of basic human rights

In Donbas, the new Russian passport holders will get fewer rights than those in Crimea. Yet this is indeed a humanitarian act and will be much appreciated by the Donbas residents.

Disproof

Russian decree on enabling the simplified issuing of passports in certain areas of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions is considered an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty. See here for background.

According to the EU, the timing of such a decision immediately after Ukraine’s Presidential election, which demonstrated Ukraine's strong attachment to democracy and the rule of law, shows Russia’s intention to further destabilise Ukraine and to exacerbate the conflict.

Since 2014, the Ukrainian government has required citizens in Donetsk and Luhansk, which are not controlled by Kyiv, to register as internally displaced persons in government-controlled areas of Ukraine in order to receive their pensions and other entitlements.

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  • Reported in: Issue 151
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24/04/2019
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Russia, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Donbas
  • Outlet: 60 minut @Rossiya 1 (01:00 - 02:30)
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The decision of the UN Tribunal for the Ukrainian sailors is illegitimate

The decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to free Ukrainian sailors, whom Russia seized together with ships in the Kerch Strait in 2018, is illegitimate. This incident is not under the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal.

May 27, 2019
Disproof

This is another piece of Russian propaganda fake about the seizure by Russia of Ukrainian sailors in the Kerch Strait on 25 November 2018.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea is an independent judicial body that deals with legal disputes based on the provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Russia's seizure of warships and military personnel violates the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and customary international law, which guarantees the full immunity of naval ships and their personnel.

Ukraine and Belarus will avoid sliding into Nazism only if they become parts of Russia

Ukrainian authorities encourage a combination of Nazi uniforms and national embroidered clothes. In fact, when the issue of wearing national clothes is politicised, then the national clothes inevitably become equal to Nazism. Belarus follows the Ukrainian path with a 5-8 year delay. Only one scenario will prevent Ukraine and Belarus from sliding into Nazism through the politicisation of national clothes: if the two countries become a Russian western federal area without a right for self-determination.

May 27, 2019
Disproof

This message is based on ungrounded claims concerning national clothes and Nazification and a ridiculous false dilemma about the direction of Ukraine's and Belarus's political development. It is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Ukraine and Nazism and is aimed at discrediting and undermining the Ukrainian and Belarusian statehoods.

There is no proof that either Ukrainian or Belarusian authorities encourage public presentation of the Nazi uniform or other Nazi symbols. Ukrainian and Belarusian legislation prohibit propaganda, public display and dissemination of Nazi symbols. Ukrainian law provides for up to five years of imprisonment for this crime, and the bill which is currently reviewed in the Belarusian parliament proposes to punish purposeful activities aimed at rehabilitation of Nazism with up to five year imprisonment too.