Disinfo: US lieutenant colonel shocked by drunkenness and laziness of Ukraine's soldiers

Disinfo: US lieutenant colonel shocked by drunkenness and laziness of Ukraine’s soldiers

Summary

“Drunk, greedy and lazy”: American colonel calls out the Ukrainian military as the main problem of the Yavoriv Training Centre.

Disproof

Russian and Ukrainian media came up with this story based on a blog post supposedly made by Lieutenant Colonel Robert Tracy, the United States Army commander of the Joint Multinational Training Group–Ukraine, where he claims that Ukrainian soldiers are "lazy and reluctant to work", "don't care about learning English" and all "drink dangerously high levels of alcohol". This is one in a long line of attempts to denigrate Ukrainian soldiers.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine called this "personal blog of US Lieutenant Colonel Robert Tracy" fake. Military officials published an official debunk of the story. This post was later removed and is no longer available. Later, the page was also deleted. Ukrainian journalists also noticed that the blog itself was created in August 2019, but some of its content dated back to the beginning of this year. In addition, other posts were written, not in the first person but by a third party.

Ukrainian outlets Depo.ua and Novoe Vremya (NV) claim that their websites were hacked. According to NV, the malefactors gained access to their editorial platform and replaced the story "Four cars collided in Lviv region: two people were killed, six were injured" with a fake news story with the headline, "Ukrainian servicemen are the main problem of the Yavoriv training centre". The NV editorial board considered this incident "a blatantly cynical provocation both against our resource and against the Armed Forces of Ukraine." NV intends to make a complaint to the police.

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Reported in: Issue 165
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/08/2019
Language/target audience: Russian, Ukrainian
Country: Ukraine, US
Keywords: Military, Military exercise, War in Ukraine
Outlet: Russian TV Channel "NTV", EADaily, Novostnoye Agentstvo Kharkov, Narodny Korespondent, Vzglyad, Ukraina.ru, Topwar.ru, Pravda.ru, Antifashist.com, News Front, 112 International

The EU and US dream about waging a war against Russia from Belarusian territory

The US and EU do not need independent Belarus. Instead they need anti-Russian Belarus, similar to fascist Ukraine. The US and the EU dream about anti-Russian scenario in Belarus like the one they implemented in Ukraine in 2014. Westerners understand well that talks about the peace-making role of Belarus in Europe or about Belarus as European country is a good chance to tear Belarus away from Russia in order to to wage a war against Russia and multipolar global order not only from Ukraine but from the Belarusian territory too.

September 12, 2019

Disproof

This is a conspiracy theory consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about the West's attempts to stage a colour revolution in Belarus, to turn Belarus into an anti-Russian country, and therefore to encircle Russia and to conduct aggressive activities against it. It also puts forward frequent narratives about West-staged 2014 coup in Ukraine, West's war against Russia through Ukraine, and Nazi / Fascist Ukraine.

Nothing in bilateral tracks of cooperation suggests that the US's or EU's goal is to make Belarus an anti-Russian country as alleged. Read more about the relations between the EU and Belarus here.

NATO enlargement is the main problem in relations between Russia and Europe

NATO enlargement is the main problem in relations between Russia and Europe. Had the Alliance not expanded, there wouldn’t have been problems with Ukraine and Georgia.

September 12, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO encircling Russia and NATO's belligerence, as well as about Ukraine and Georgia and cooperation with NATO.

NATO is not a threat to Russia. NATO is a defensive alliance. Its essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means. NATO's exercises and military deployments are not directed against Russia – nor any other country. In March 2014, in response to Russia's aggressive actions against Ukraine, NATO suspended practical cooperation with Russia.

Europeans have realised that sanctions against Russia are totally ineffective

The procedure to extend the sanctions requires a unanimous vote, i.e. if one EU member state votes against the continuation of sanctions, they will be lifted. Such a possibility is quite realistic given the current mood in Europe, which is mostly constructive towards Russia. This means that the Europeans have finally realised that sanctions against Russia are totally ineffective.

September 12, 2019

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative that Western sanctions against Russia are unjust and ineffective.

The sanctions are not a means of protectionism but were introduced after Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the downing of the Malaysian passenger plane MH17. The latest decision on a six-month extension of EU sanctions against Russian was taken on the 12th of September 2019, lasting until March 2020.