Disinfo: Navalny couldn’t have been poisoned by Novichok, otherwise he would be dead

Summary

The symptoms of Russian opposition member Alexei Navalny have nothing to do with the poisoning by a substance of the Novichok family, said Russian scientist, who took part in the creation of this chemical agent. He said that poisoning with this substance would cause death and not a coma, as in Navalny’s case.

Disproof

This is part of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign on the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The use of a chemical nerve agent of the Novichok group has been established beyond any doubt by a specialist Bundeswehr laboratory. Contrary to the claim, Navalny’s symptoms are consistent with other cases involving Novichok nerve agent, such as the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal, both of which survived. Also, other victims of Novichok poisoning did recover from it, such as Detective Nick Bailey, who assisted the Skripals after the attempt against their lives, and Charlie Rowley, who was accidentally affected by the nerve agent remaining in the bottle disposed by the attackers in a trash bin in Amesbury. The use of multiple and simultaneous versions of an event involving questionable actions by the Russian government or its allies, in order to confound citizens about the actual truth, is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation strategy, already seen in the cases of the MH17 downing, the illegal annexation of Crimea, the murder attempt against Sergei and Yulia Skripal or chemical attacks in Syria. See other examples of pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives on Alexei Navalny’s poisoning in our database, such as claims that only caffeine and alcohol were found in his blood, that the US wanted to use it to block Nord Stream 2 and Russia’s vaccine against coronavirus, that the West hopes that he dies to have an excuse for new sanctions, or that Western accusations about Navalny’s case are as false as they were about Sergei Skripal and Alexander Litvinenko.

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mundo.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 210
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 02/09/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: novichok, Alexei Navalny
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Disinfo: Poland intends to annex half of Belarus

Poland wants to cut off and annex half of Belarus.

Sep 01, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aboutBelarus. Reports that Poland is allegedly "preparing a coup d'etat" in Belarus appeared after the presidents of Lithuania and Poland, in an appeal to the Belarusian authorities, called for respecting democratic standards and stopping violence and repression against participants in mass protests. Poland refutes accusations about alleged military provocations towards Belarus and attempts to destabilise the neighbouring country. An aide to Poland's president, Krzysztof Szczerski stated that such accusations were unacceptable and that no one in Poland would take advantage of the political turmoil in Belarus. As for "Poland's attempts to annex half of the Belarusian territory", this is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative to portray Poland as the instigators of the protest in Belarus in order to "destabilise post-Soviet space". Szczerski said that "no one has such intentions in Poland and this is propaganda." The countries of the European Union have nothing to do with the mass protests in Belarus: rallies of thousands broke out after Aleksandr Lukashenko, who has ruled for 26 years, declared that he had “won a convincing victory” in the elections. The current protests in Belarus began on the evening of August 9; to disperse the protesters, thesecurity forces are using rubber bullets, flash grenades, tear gas, shockers and water cannons. On the day of voting, the centre of Minsk was blocked by security forces, whilst communications and the Internet were jammed in the city. Read similar cases: "Lublin Triangle" - the organiser of the coup in Belarus and Poland is openly leading a coup in Belarus.

Disinfo: Ukraine was created by Vladimir Lenin

(In Ukraine) everyone forgets that (the founder of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir) Lenin created Ukraine.

Sep 01, 2020
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative designed to denigrate the history of Ukraine, Ukrainian statehood and its independence. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected by most of the free world, confirmed by the resolutions of the United Nations, but violated by Russia. The history of Ukraine dates back to the era of the Kyivan Rus’ in the 9th-13th centuries. A fully independent Ukraine only emerged in the 20th century, after long periods of successive domination by Poland-Lithuania, Russia, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Under Lenin's leadership at the beginning of the 20th century, Ukraine was occupied by the Bolsheviks and for decades was under communist control. When the Soviet Union began to unravel in 1990–91, the legislature of the Ukrainian S.S.R. declared sovereignty (July 16, 1990) and then outright independence (August 24, 1991). With the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in December 1991, Ukraine gained full independence. The communist regime of 1917-1991, like the Nazi regime, in Ukraine was recognised as criminal and pursued a policy of state terror. This is recorded in the law on decommunisation, which the Verkhovna Rada adopted in 2015. Read similar the case claiming that Ukrainian statehood is an inheritance from soviet Ukraine.

Disinfo: Europe is to blame for the outbreak of World War II

Responsibility for the outbreak of World War II lies with all European countries. The governments of these (European) countries tried in every way to push Nazi Germany to aggression against the Soviet Union, in every way they freed the road. In fact, (European countries) sacrificed Poland.

Sep 01, 2020
Disproof

This is a pro-Kremlin narrative and a clear case of historical revisionism about WWII. The beginning of WWII was laid by cooperation between Hitler's Germany and the USSR. The Non-Aggression Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, also known as the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" (Hitler-Stalin Pact) was signed on August 23, 1939. After its conclusion, Nazi Germany and the USSR became allies for 22 months. The agreement was accompanied by a secret supplementary protocol on the delimitation of areas of mutual interest in Eastern Europe. In particular, Hitler and Stalin agreed to divide Poland. The agreement also indicated that the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, as well as Bessarabia and Finland, also belong to the respective areas of interest of Germany and the USSR. On 1 September 1939, Hitler attacked Poland, Soviet troops entered the territory on September 17 of the same year. From 3 September 1939, Great Britain and France were at war with Germany, creating an anti-Hitler coalition together with the expelled Polish government and other countries. Read more disinformation cases on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact here.