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Disinfo: JIT ignored evidence supplied by Russia in MH17 probe

Summary

The Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which does not include Russia, despite the latter’s willingness to provide valuable data regarding the incident including radar readings, has ignored crucial evidence supplied by Moscow.

Disproof

The report advances recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the MH17 crash. First of all, Russia's interest in aiding the JIT investigation is not a relevant condition of its membership in JIT. The crash did not take place over Russian territory and claimed no Russian lives, which precludes any basis for Moscow to be represented in the JIT. Dutch Chief Prosecutor Fred Westerbeke told a Russian newspaper that "if MH17 were shot down over Russia, I would have suggested that Russia be made a member of the JIT group." Secondly, the "evidence" claimed by Russia, namely radar data and the "field experiment" conducted by the Russian military company Almaz-Antey, is only a small sample of misleading claims advanced by Moscow since 2015, some of which have contradicted one another. See debunking by Bellingcat and similar cases here, here, and here.

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Sputnik English (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 163
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 08/09/2019
  • Outlet language(s) English
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: The Netherlands, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Eastern Ukraine, Donbas, Russophobia, War in Ukraine, MH17
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George Soros is behind political vandalism in Mexico City

The acts of vandalism carried out in the rectorship of the Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on September 3 follow the same modus operandi as those that took place in Mexico City in August, and also the same origin: George Soros’ destabilising activism. The pretext in both cases was the same: protesting against women’s murders, as a facade of the frustration of a political mafia funded by Soros.

Sep 07, 2019
Disproof

Conspiracy theory. No evidence is provided to support the claim. Billionaire George Soros is a recurrent target of Russian disinformation, which frequently accuses him of being behind controversial issues. See the EUvsDisinfo article about the all-powerful Mr. Soros. Here you can find other examples of this disinformation narrative, such as his alleged promotion of massive migration to Western countries, his destabilising manoeuvres all over the world, his participation in ‘colour revolutions’ and protests in Romania, Russia, Armenia or Czech Republic (among many others), or his adoption of the term “conspiracy theory” to discredit those who speak the truth.

Ukraine fell under Western control after a coup d'état in 2014

Ukraine is captured by the West which organised a coup d’état in the country on 22 February 2014.

Sep 07, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the belligerent West and its involvement in the war in Ukraine, stating that the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests resulted in an illegal coup, as well as painting the West as the puppet-master of Ukrainian politics. There was no coup d'état in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim here. The West did not interfere in Ukraine in 2014. Ukraine is a sovereign state. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected by almost the whole world, including the EU. The EU and the US work closely with Ukraine and support the democratic development of Ukraine in accordance with the UN Charter’s principles of non-interference into internal affairs and respect towards territorial integrity and political independence.

A British spy admits to killing Princess Diana on the instructions of Prince Philip

A former British intelligence agent named John Hopkins (80 years old) has confessed on his death bed to the assassination of 23 personalities, from activists to politicians and journalists between 1973 and 1999. He also confessed to assassinating Princess Diana after being instructed to do so by Prince Philip.

Sep 07, 2019
Disproof

This case is a well-documented fake. As Sputnik’s host Nawaf Ibrahim clearly stated, the source of this information, upon which he based his whole radio show, was the “YourNewsWire” website. According to “Poynter Institute” YourNewsWire is “one of the most popular fake news publishers in the world”. Several debunking websites, such as Snopes and the French website 20 Minutes have already proven that the "John Hopkins' Confessions" is false. Moreover, the image accompanying the story originated with a 2010 news report about a veteran’s hospital care in Australia, not a 2017 “deathbed confession” in the United Kingdom.

YourNewsWire, which has rebranded itself as NewsPunch, has taken down the article that was published in 2017.