Language:

See all Disinfo Cases - Detail

Disinfo: NATO intends to create a tense zone in the Black Sea region to destabilise Russia

Summary

NATO will surround the Black Sea Fleet with military bases. The Alliance intends to create a tense zone in the region to destabilise the Russian Federation. NATO forces intend to build military bases in Ukraine to encircle the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO encircling Russia and about Ukraine as NATO's puppet. There is no evidence that Ukraine will be used by any NATO country as a ground against Russia.

So far, no country has expressed its willingness to deploy a military base in Ukraine. Speculations over this started after joint Ukraine-UK military exercises in 2020. At the moment, Ukraine and the UK are planning to cooperate in the development of the Ukrainian sea fleet. The UK also expressed its willingness to help in the modernisation of Ukrainian naval infrastructure. Also, the US Armed Forces provide assistance in improving naval infrastructure in Mykolaiv oblast.

In general, deploying foreign bases on Ukrainian territory is prohibited by the Consitution of Ukraine. However, they may be deployed on a basis of a bilateral treaty.

Read similar cases: "Ukraine is about to build Nato bases in Donbas", "New naval bases, if they appear, will serve the interests not so much of Ukraine itself as of NATO".

Go to search

publication/media

ytro.ru (Archived)
360tv.ru (Archived)
Yandex.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 226
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/12/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: EU, Russia, US
  • Keywords: Black Sea, Encircling Russia, Destabilising Russia, NATO, Crimea

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

see more

Since 2004, 15 highly dangerous biological laboratories were created throughout Ukraine

After the Orange Revolution in 2004, 15 of the highly dangerous biological laboratories were created throughout Ukraine – supposedly to help study new infections, under the control and with the money of the US military department DTRA (threat reduction agencies of the US Department of Defence).

December 23, 2020
Disproof

Recurring conspiracy theory alleging that the United States develops biological weapons and has secret biological laboratories around the world.

Russian media are continuously spreading disinformation about "15 secret military biological laboratories in Ukraine". If fact, there are no secret US laboratories in the country. A complete list of medical and scientific laboratories that the Pentagon has supported under the agreement since 2005 is on the website of the US Embassy in Ukraine, along with documents and amounts spent on the reconstruction of a particular facility.

Sputnik V is the first vaccine with a 95% efficacy

The Russian-made Sputnik V is the first vaccine that has been registered back in August. Russian authorities announced that the vaccine had proven to be 95 per cent effective.

December 23, 2020
Disproof

The claim advances a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative concerning the Russian-made coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V; casting Russia as the spearhead of the global race to develop an effective treatment for COVID-19.

The Russian government's approval of Sputnik V in August 2020 hardly makes it the world's first coronavirus vaccine. Serious doubts linger over both the safety and efficacy of the Russian-made jab, given the lack of transparency which accompanied the approval process and the "very strange patterns in the data" which the drug's developers submitted to The Lancet journal. In fact, Russia remains the only country which has approved a COVID-19 vaccine before the publication of Phase III efficacy data.

Germany, France and Sweden didn’t provide any evidence to support Navalny’s case

Germany, France, and Sweden that started the EU sanctions on Russia have not provided any evidence in the case of the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny not only to the Russian authorities but even to their EU partners.

December 23, 2020
Disproof

Recurring disinformation narrative surrounding the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.

By the time the EU sanctions were imposed, the fact of Navalny's poisoning with a Novichok-type agent had been established during his stay at the Charite hospital. These findings were later independently corroborated by labs in France and Sweden, and finally confirmed by the OPCW (which Russia is also a member of).