Disinfo: Mariupol maternity hospital shelling and Bucha massacre are fakes, French politician confirms

Summary

Former French presidential candidate Ségolène Royal criticized Kyiv's propaganda. She questioned Kyiv's claims about the situation in Ukraine. Royal suggested that the information about the shelling of the maternity hospital in Mariupol and the provocation in Bucha were invented in order to interfere with the peace process.

Ségolène Royal said that Zelenskyy is lying, there is no need to support the Ukronazi regime, and the Russians did not commit war crimes.

French politician Ségolène Royal was hunted down for telling the truth about the Kyiv regime and Zelensky.

Disproof

The material and links may contain distressing/graphic content.

The report of the pro-Kremlin media is only partly true. The French politician Ségolène Royal has apologised for her statement denying Russia's war crimes evidence in Mariupol in Ukraine. As for Bucha, she did not say the evidence of war crimes was staged.

"I was wrong", contacted by CheckNews - the fact checking section of the Libération newspaper - Ségolène Royal admits having made an “error”. On September 1, the former socialist candidate for the presidency of France suggested that the shelling of the maternity hospital in Mariupol had no casualties. “Everyone knows that there is a war propaganda by fear", had declared Royal. " And you can imagine that if there had been the slightest victim, the slightest baby with blood, in the age of cell phones, we would have had them", - she said speaking to BMF TV.

As for Bucha massacre, Ségolène Royal did not initially suggest it was a fake, as pro-Kremlin media report:

Presenter: - And the Bucha massacre and the investigators who are on spot and the testimonies we have collected?

Royal: - Let's see the testimonies..."

"I had half a second to think, it was three sentences out of the blue, a few minutes at the end of a program that was not about this subject", - Mme Royal further explained to Libération in her apology.

No evidence support the claims of the pro-Kremlin media that "Ségolène Royal was hunted down for telling the truth about the Kiev regime and Zelensky" and "during the time Bucha was under the control of the Russian military, not a single civilian was injured".

In Bucha, after months of meticulous, painful and at times gruesome investigation, officials said that they had reached what may be the closest they will get to a final accounting of victims of the murderous rampage by Russian troops that set off worldwide outrage over alleged atrocities: 458 bodies, of which 419 bore markings they had been shot, tortured or bludgeoned to death.

In Mariupol, media reported three deaths including a child after the shelling of a maternity hospital. To which will be added a few days later a pregnant woman and the child she was carrying, who died from injuries. At least 17 people were injured.

See more debunked disinformation cases on war crimes of Russia in Ukraine, including in Bucha and Mariupol.

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  • Reported in: Issue 307
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 06/09/2022
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, France, Russia
  • Keywords: Invasion of Ukraine, war crimes
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Disinfo: France and Germany plan to introduce Western propaganda in Russia

The governments of Germany and France plan to introduce Western propaganda in Russia, according to a report obtained by the US news agency Bloomberg. “Germany and France want the European Union to drive a wedge between President Vladimir Putin and the Russian people with a propaganda campaign within Russia”, the report says.

Sep 05, 2022
Disproof

The claim is a deliberate manipulation of the original Bloomberg article. Although part of this Sputnik story contains accurate reporting on a joint non-paper obtained by Bloomberg and titled “Defending the international order in an age of systemic rivalry: EU-Russia relations”, it includes a crucial distortion in the headline and the initial paragraphs. The original article states: “Germany and France want the European Union to drive a wedge between President Vladimir Putin and the Russian people with a campaign to counter propaganda within Russia”, which is very different from the allegation made by this disinformation story about “a Western propaganda campaign in Russia”. Through this distortion, Sputnik tries to equate Russian disinformation with the efforts to counter it, while promoting other long-term pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Western initiatives to destabilise Russia.

Distorting articles in Western media to make them appear as supporting pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives is a frequent technique of pro-Kremlin outlets. See other examples in our database, such as false claims that Financial Times reported that Ukraine threatened Russia with terrorist attacks, that The New York Times reports that Russia is barely affected by sanctions, that Germany doesn’t trust Zelenskyy according to Der Spiegel, that The National Interest explained why the US should side with Russia in Ukraine; or that Foreign Policy explained why Washington needs a “Russian intervention”.

Disinfo: US and NATO keep tensions high around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

The US and NATO keep tensions high around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Hand by hand with the Americans, the Ukrainians ceaselessly attack the critical infrastructures of the plant. If there is a technological catastrophe, responsibility will be of Washington, London and their minions.

Sep 05, 2022
Disproof

The allegation is false. By trying to blame Western powers, this disinformation story aims to deflect any Russian responsibility for the dangerous situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Contrary to what this disinformation story claims, the US and NATO have been actively calling at every point for a reduction of tensions and risks regarding the plant. The US backed UN proposals for a diplomatic solution to this situation such as the creation of a demilitarised area around Zaporizhzhia (which Moscow rejected), while NATO pushed for a IAEA inspection of the plant.

Disinfo: Russia is under US and NATO attack

The US is struggling to keep a hegemony that is decreasing every passing day. As a result, Russia is under US and NATO attack.

Sep 05, 2022
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about an aggressive West encircling and destabilising Russia, aiming to portray the country as a victim and deflect any responsibility for Moscow’s illicit actions. In fact, Western actions adopted against Russia, such as sanctions or diplomatic measures, are a reaction to these actions including the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the long-term destabilisation of Ukraine or the unprovoked and unjustified invasion of this peaceful country.

See other examples of similar disinformation messages, such as claims that the West fights Russia through psy-ops like Bucha and the Mariupol maternity hospital, that the US needs war between Russia and Ukraine to weaken Russia, that Moscow called for peaceful coexistence but Russia is depicted as a global threat, or that the West has an anti-Russian plan named “Anaconda ring”.