Disinfo: Poroshenko thinks that Donbas and Crimea are not Ukrainian

Summary

The Ukrainian President does not care about Donbas and Crimea. He does not recognise Crimea and Donbas as Ukrainian. On a map, used in Poroshenko’s election campaign, no cities of Donbas are included.

Disproof

The claim of Donbas cities absent from the election campaign map is simply not true. At least one city in the Donetsk region can be read on the map. Generally a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about War in Ukraine. The President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, has repeatedly stated that Donbas and Crimea are Ukrainian and that they are occupied by Russia. In a recent Facebook post, he acknowledged that the restoration of Ukrainian control over Donbas and Crimea is a priority of the Ukrainian state. In his programme for the upcoming elections in March he stated the following: “We will continue restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine and returning the occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk regions with political and diplomatic means.” He added that all Ukrainian citizens must return under the sovereignty of Ukraine. “We will continue the line for restoring the territorial integrity of Ukraine in the political and diplomatic manner, ensuring the unity of the pro-Ukrainian coalition in the world and in the European Union, using the instrument of sanctions and the mechanism of the international UN mission throughout the territory of the occupied Donbas," Poroshenko claimed during his pre-election meeting on January 29th 2019. "Ukraine has become stronger, Ukraine has shown confidence in its forces. And on the Day of Unity, we sincerely appeal to our countrymen living within the borders of Ukraine, but in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. We never forget about you. We work every day to bring the day of your liberation from the enemy's yoke," the President of Ukraine emphasised during his speech on the Day of Unity of Ukraine on January 22, 2019. “Ukraine will take all measures to return the occupied Donbas and Crimea,” Poroshenko urged on November 10, 2018. Similar statements were made in 2018, 2017 and 2016.

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  • Reported in: Issue 137
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 11/02/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Ukraine, Eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian disintegration, Ukrainian statehood, Crimea, Petro Poroshenko, Donbas, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: The Czech Republic will deploy an American military base, just as Poland did

Czech Defence Minister Lubomir Metnar, in an interview to the newspaper Právo, did not exclude the possibility of talks in NATO on the possible deployment of new military bases in Europe, also in the Czech Republic, in case of the deterioration of the international relations following the disintegration of the INF. Previously, Czech Premier Andrej Babiš, commenting on the withdrawal of both the US and Russia from the INF, stated that he would not like to return to the cold war times.

Feb 10, 2019
Disproof

The title of the original article is misleading, manipulative and does not reflect the content of the interview with the minister adequately by turning a possibility in to a certainty. In fact, in his interview the Defence Minister of the Czech Republic said the following: "We'll see what will happen in six months, after it becomes possible to return to the [INF] treaty. It's possible that the situation will deteriorate then and I do not exclude the option that the Alliance [NATO] will have such a discussion [to deploy a missile defence system or missiles in the Czech Republic]".

Disinfo: NATO scientists synthesized Novichok in a lab in Brno, Czech Republic

Close to the Czech city of Brno, there is a lab where NATO scientists synthesised Novichok.

Feb 10, 2019
Disproof

No evidence given. Consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the Skripal poisoning and the nerve agent that was used for it. For background: Novichok is known to be more powerful than VX and was developed in Russia in the 1970s and 1980s. It is so unusual that very few scientists outside of Russia have any real experience in dealing with it and no country outside of Russia is known to have developed the substance. See reports by CNN, BBC, the Guardian. In a statement, the EU expressed shock at the offensive use of a military-grade nerve agent, of a type developed by Russia, for the first time on European soil in over 70 years.

Disinfo: Ukraine responsible for clash in Kerch sea

Kiev wants to make the Sea of Azov accessible to NATO forces and Ukraine could be responsible for the naval incident in the Straits of Kerch. Russia’s actions were entirely legitimate. According to the data of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the Ukrainian ships had approached the Straits without any warning, had not waited for the Russian pilot and had not complied with the indications of the border guards, thus violating the legislation. The provocations may have continued throughout the day, leading the Russian side to open fire, injuring three Ukrainians and stopping the ships.

Feb 09, 2019
Disproof

The article is a complication of evidence provided by the Russian security services FSB. The story has been published here also. According to the research group Bellingcat, data, based on geolocated video footage, confirms that Ukrainian ships did enter Russian-claimed territorial waters (They are, in fact, only Russian-claimed territorial waters, rather than internationally recognised boundaries), both that of Crimea and mainland Russia in the Kerch Strait. Ukraine, nonetheless, argues this was legally permissible due to the 2003 agreement between the two countries. Secondly, we can say that the Ukrainian tug ‘Yani Kapu’ was intentionally rammed at least four times over a period of at least an hour. Thirdly, based on information provided by the Russian FSB which appears to incriminate themselves, the shooting of the ‘Berdyansk’ most likely took place in international waters. For details on the incident: see Bellingcat. See more disinfo cases on "The Ukrainian navy violated Russian borders" and debunk by Deutsche Welle