Disinfo: Latvia is a US vassal state, it destroyed its banking sector on Washington orders

Summary

Latvia purposefully destroyed its banking sector by Washington’s request. The thing is capital withdrawal and money laundering are too profitable of a business to give it away to dependent vassal states. It is even truer during present hard times when every single penny counts.

Disproof

This is a conspiracy theory consistent with the lost sovereignty / external control narrative.

Latvia was indeed hit by scandals related to its banking system in 2018. To address the problem, in April 2018 Latvia's parliament adopted a law aimed at reducing and eventually eradicating money laundering. It is, however, an ungrounded claim that Latvia destroyed its banking system to please the US. The country's banking system has, on the contrary, become more stable in some respects in recent years. When it comes to foreign deposit levels, they decreased from over 50% in 2015 to around 20% in 2018, a report of the governmental Financial and Capital Markets Commission says. A lower level of foreign deposits serviced by Latvian banks means reduced risks.

See earlier disinformation case alleging that Latvia is under external control.

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sputnik.by (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 155
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 14/06/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Latvia
  • Keywords: Conspiracy theory, Baltic states
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Jun 13, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the US presence in Europe, encircled Russia and alleged belligerence and lack of sovereignty of Poland (see a similar cases: Poland provokes Russia and violates treaties by hosting US military and Poland is the Trojan horse of the US). The disinformation message - like manyothers - appeared after the meeting between President of Poland Andrzej Duda and US President Donald Trump and the signing of anagreement which will increase the number of US rotational military forces of Poland. The United States and Poland are NATO allies. Poland is a sovereign state, which determines its security and defence policy.

Disinfo: The US uses the territory of Ukraine to bury its nuclear waste

The USA uses the territory of Ukraine to bury its nuclear waste. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed an agreement with Washington for the disposal of nuclear waste in the Sumy region.

Jun 13, 2019
Disproof

There is no evidence for this claim, which is part of the recurring disinformation about Ukraine, describing it as a testing ground for different things, e.g as a nuclear dump site for the West. This story is also part of the ongoing disinformation campaign against Petro Poroshenko. The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine responded as follows to this disinformation circulating in the Russian media: "The State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine within the framework of its competence, reports about false distribution in the Russian media of information on import of radioactive waste of the American production to the territory of Ukraine and their burial in the Sumy region." "Please note that, in accordance with the requirements of Article 53 of the Law of Ukraine" on the Use of Nuclear Energy and Radiation Safety," transportation to the territory of Ukraine of radioactive waste from the territories of other states is prohibited, except for the resulting services that were provided to Ukraine by another state and which are subject to action a contract agreement between them on the return of such waste to Ukraine," added the Inspectorate.

Disinfo: Ukrainian language law prohibits use of Russian, Hungarian, Romanian languages

This law is not about protecting the Ukrainian languages, but about prohibiting Russian language, and at the same time Hungarian, Romanian and other minority languages. This law divided the population, as was the intention of previous authorities.

Jun 13, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukrainian language law. The Verkhovna Rada passed, on April 25, the law "on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language". The law establishes mandatory use of the Ukrainian language in most areas of public and communal life, including the mass media, education, science, etc. However, the law does not forbid the use of Russian or other languages in private communication and religious ceremonies. Moreover, Russian and other languages can be present in book publishing, the press, including radio and television, education and the service sector. The law allows the use of other languages in the healthcare system and in law enforcement. In addition to this, the law stipulates that in accordance with the European Charter for Regional Languages and Languages of National Minorities, the government should develop a law safeguarding language-rights of the minorities within six months of the language law entering into force. Similar disinformation cases are here and here.