Disinfo: MH17: Evidence collected by JIT could have been fabricated

The Ukrainian authorities did not declare that they intend to start bombing Russian cities. The modernisation of Ukraine's defence complex began after the start of Russian aggression, as a response to the Kremlin's occupation of Ukrainian territories. A sample of the brand new Neptune cruise missile was presented in 2015, shortly followed by practical testing. Neptune was created as the first Ukrainian cruise missile and it is possible to use it from various types of carriers: ships, aircraft and coastal complexes. The ground-based cruise missile is a fully Ukrainian development of the state-owned enterprise Luch, in cooperation with Motor Sich and other enterprises that are part of the Ukroboronprom state concern. The Kremlin launched the disinformation campaign against the latest Ukrainian development, the Neptune cruise missile, back in 2014-2015, when Ukraine began to modernise its defence complex. And while the Ukrainian missile was developed, and then successfully tested, Russian propaganda stubbornly stated that Ukraine was allegedly “unable” to create a new model of weapons. Starting from 2017, Russian media systematically released fake materials about the Ukrainian cruise missile, having developed a certain set of narratives about the Ukrainian Neptune cruise missile.

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea. Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. In 2014, Russian troops obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was illegitimate under international law, and then formally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. The annexation has been condemned by the UNGA (see the resolution A/RES/68/262 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine). No international body recognises the so-called referendum, announced on 27 February 2014 and held on 16 March 2014. A year after the illegal annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum. The European Union does not recognise Crimea's annexation and continues to condemn it as a violation of international law. EU sanctions continue to be in place against Russia as a consequence of the annexation. For the EU's statement on the sixth anniversary of Crimea annexation see here. Historical background: As for the part of the narrative that "if this or that republic became part of the Soviet Union, got a huge amount of Russian lands, traditional Russian historical territories" (Ukraine is not named but was highly likely meant), the statement is also untrue. Crimea was annexed by Russian empire, then containing Ukraine, in 1783, already in violation of a treaty which guaranteed the independence of the Tatar khanate. In 1897, the first comprehensive census of the population of the empire indicates that the Russians are only one third of the inhabitants of Crimea, where they are still slightly fewer than the indigenous Crimean Tatars. The Russians only became a majority after the complete deportation in 1944 of the Tatars, who could only return after the fall of the communist regime. The annexation of Crimea to the then Soviet Ukraine, in 1954, was not done on a not ethnic, but geographical and economic basis, since the peninsula was adjoining and economically depending from the mainland areas, it means, Ukraine. At that, in 1937 Russian Soviet Socialist Republic received Taganrog from Ukrainian Socialist Republic. But Russia is not ready to "give this gift back " to Ukraine. There were several interchanges of territories between USSR's republics, which are all now sovereign States recognised by international law.