Disinfo: Muslims want to forbid Christmas trees in England

Summary

Last Christmas I visited London and the famous Trafalgar Square. And what did I see? Migrants had turned the square into an Asian bazaar. Drums were sounding, Arabs and dark-skinned people were dancing to their music. The place reeked from mutton. The Christmas tree looked strange and useless on this Afro-Asian feast. And the worst is that you hear from the Muslim community of England voices of forbidding Christmas trees, as they are allegedly hurting the religious feelings of the Muslims.

Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative about migration and alleged threats to Christianity in Europe.

Unfounded claims about Muslims posing a threat to Christmas have been debunked multiple times, see for example here and here.

See related disinformation claims: "Sweden cancelled Christmas TV concert not to irritate migrants", "France is banning Christmas symbols", or "In order not to aggravate people of other religions, there was no Christmas tree in Brussels".

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aif.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 224
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 04/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: UK
  • Keywords: migration, Christmas
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Disinfo: Nobody talks about the White Helmets anymore, because now everyone knows they faked everything

The White Helmets, now everyone knows that this was a total fake. And no one talks about them now. Where did they go, do we know? They won their Oscar and then they left?

Yes, they probably have other parallel activities, surely of the same kind. We know that they are the ones who mounted false chemical attacks in Syria. The Russians, moreover, recently warned that they had information that others, this time not the White Helmets, were preparing a new fake chemical attack in the region of Idlib.

Nov 03, 2020
Disproof

Recurrent disinformation narrative on the White Helmets.

The White Helmets movement originated in Syria in 2012. The organisation, which is made up of 3,400 volunteers including teachers, engineers, tailors and firefighters, states that it has no affiliation to any political or military actor and is committed to rendering services to anyone in need. Volunteers save people from the rubble after bombings, despite the danger of dying themselves as a result of repeated airstrikes.

Disinfo: Crimea was and is Russian

Crimea returned as a Russian federal region, after a referendum that took place on March 16, 2014, in Crimea and Sevastopol, and both regions became within the Russian Federation, as of March 18, 2014, and this day was considered an official holiday in Crimea, and the city Sevastopol.

Nov 03, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea.

The EU does not recognise the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and continues to condemn this violation of international law by sanctions. Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. The annexation has been condemned by the UNGA (A/RES/68/262).

Disinfo: Certain forces have encircled Russia with an explosive geopolitical belt

A gigantic effort will indeed be required from the Kremlin along the entire perimeter of the Russian state border. You can start with Finland, then walk along with the Baltic troika, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan. Further – Central Asia … And so on up to the Pacific Ocean and Japan. You just need to understand that there is an openly explosive geopolitical belt, with which certain forces, working for decades, have ringed Russia. And this “martyr’s belt” was closed in the South Caucasus.

Nov 03, 2020
Disproof

The article appeared in the context of the recent escalation in Nagorno-Karabakh which is a continuation of the decades-old conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia. It is a conspiracy theory framing Russia as the ultimate target of international events, conflicts, revolutions and protests, based on a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russia being encircled through a so-called “Anaconda plan”, as well as narrative about NATO's aggressive agenda toward Russia.

This recurring pro-Kremlin narrative paints all manifestations of popular discontent in the region as colour revolutions, portrays entire nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe as pathologically Russophobic, and alleges that the West is attempting to encircle Russia and create instability around all Russian border.