Disinfo: Kyiv fails to implement Minsk agreements

Summary

Ukrainian authorities have done nothing to implement the Minsk agreements.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Ukraine is blocking the peace process in Donbas.

In reality, Article One of all Minsk agreements calls for an immediate ceasefire because it is impossible to proceed with the peace process amid hostilities. Ukraine has announced a truce several times since the war broke out in Donbas in 2014, and the illegal DNR and LNR pseudo-republics have been continually violating it. Ukraine announced its latest truce in July 2020, but Moscow-backed separatists have been breaking it virtually every day. On top of that, separatists often use the civilian population as a human shield by shelling Ukrainian positions from residential areas to accuse Ukrainian troops of possible civilian victims when they strike back.

Moscow also illegally provides the separatists with weapons. This is a well-known fact, although Russia bluntly denies it through its propaganda media and accuses Washington of selling weapons to Kyiv. Ukraine does not conceal this fact because US military aid to Kyiv is legal and transparent.

Moscow has been trying to pass itself off as a mediator in the peace process since its launch in 2014, but in reality, it has been obstructing it instead. Moreover, Russia is not a mediator because it is internationally recognised as a warring side in the Donbas war. The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7), who met in Cornwall on 11-13 June 2021, said in a communiqué:

“We remain firmly of the view that Russia is a party to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, not a mediator.”

By making statements alleging that Ukraine has done nothing to implement the Minsk agreements, Moscow and the separatists it backs are delaying a peace settlement.

Read more disinformation reports alleging that Ukraine is blocking the peace settlement in Donbas.

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RIA (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 258
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09/09/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Minsk agreements, War in Ukraine, Donbas
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Disinfo: The EU continues to pursue a discriminatory policy with the Crimea Platform

The provocative nature of the Ukrainian leadership’s idea of holding the so-called “Crimea Platform” “summit” was recorded, despite the fact that the question of the return of Crimea to the Russian Federation was closed in March 2014. In this regard, attention is drawn to the fact that the European Union continues to pursue a discriminatory policy against inhabitants of the peninsula.

Relations between Moscow and Kyiv deteriorated after the 2014 coup in Ukraine, which led to the return of the Crimea to the bosom of Russia, and to the outbreak of armed conflict in the Donbas region (southeast of Ukraine) between Kyiv on the one hand and the "unrecognised" Donetsk and Luhansk republics on the other, which demanded more cultural and economic autonomy.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

An emerging disinformation narrative in response to the Crimea Platform Summit, a high-level international conference held on August 2021 that was initiated by Ukraine and focused on Russia's illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, while claiming that the foundation of the DPR and LPR came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv painted as a coup d'état.

Although Russia attempted to disguise its military occupation of Crimea with a hastily organised sham referendum in March 2014, there is no international recognition of Russia's actions. Several major countries and international organisations have overwhelmingly rejected this charade, including in multiple UN General Assembly resolutions and EU statements. European Council President Charles Michel emphasised during the first Crimea Platform Summit the “EU's unwavering stance: we do not and will not recognize the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia."

Disinfo: The West uses Russian protest movements as a fifth column to destabilise Russia

The West – the US and its satellite, the EU - uses a fifth column and a sixth column inside Russia to destabilise Russia and attack its sovereignty. The 5th column is made up of protest movements and the liberal press in Russia. The 6th column is made up of Russia’s liberal pro-Western elite that enjoys a dominant position in Russia's economy, educational system, foreign policy, and culture. The 5th column and the 6th column both have the same supervisors, sources of support, and systems of communication. The sixth column secretly sympathises with protest movements but is outwardly loyal to Putin. Russian actors that support and develop a culture of liberalism are usually involved in providing classified information to the West and in organising direct actions of sabotage and destabilisation in Russia.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

This article repeats a narrative, increasingly spread by pro-Kremlin outlets, claiming that the West is waging a hybrid war against Russia. This narrative fits into the broader disinformation themes about the West’s allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia, about its alleged plans to destabilise and encircle Russia, and about Western support for “colour revolutions”.

The article’s message is also consistent with the recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Western intelligence services have recruited Russian opposition politicians and independent journalists to conduct espionage, sabotage and destabilisation operations against the Russian state. It adds a new twist to this narrative by alleging that many highly influential top-level Russian officials have also been recruited as Western intelligence assets and are also carrying out such operations. There is no factual evidence to support the article’s claims.

Disinfo: Latvia has been promoting Nazism for the last 30 years

Since the day of Latvian independence 30 years ago, its domestic and foreign policies are aimed at the glorification of Nazism, justification of war crimes, and rewriting of history.

Sep 08, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazism in the Baltic countries. The accusation of Nazism is one of the favourite techniques of pro-Kremlin outlets as explained in our past analysis Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest.

It is also worth noting that in 1991, Latvia did not gain its independence for the first time but restored it after the long period of Soviet occupation. The Kremlin conducted a forced annexation of the Baltic states in June of 1940 following Soviet military occupation and the forced installation of “people’s governments”. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed a non-aggression (Molotov-Ribbentrop) Pact whose secret protocols divided the territories belonging to Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Romania into Soviet and Nazi spheres of influence. The Pact gave Stalin a free hand in the Baltic states.