Disinfo: "Psaking" meme became a symbol of stupidity of American diplomacy during the Obama administration

Summary

Jen Psaki returns. The very name Jen Psaki, when she was working for Obama, became a household name.

It was Psaki who calmly stated that gas in Europe flows from West to East, and she was not going to correct herself. It was she who was going to “send the fleet to the shores of Belarus.” She flogged nonsense about Ukraine and Donbass.

As a result, even the “psaking” meme appeared as a designation of presumptuous stupidity, which became a characteristic feature of all American diplomacy at that time. And then there were T-shirts with the slogan printed: “No psaking!”

Disproof

This Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlet attributes words to Jen Psaki which she never actually said and amplifies a mistake that she corrected. A Russian media and social media campaign against Jen Psaki started in 2014 over the US´ criticism of the Russian invasion of Crimea and Donbas.

One half-true episode happened on April 10, when Ms. Psaki was asked about Russian threats to cut off supplies of natural gas to Ukraine. At one point in her reply, she briefly reversed the direction in which Russian pipelines run, saying: “There are flows of gas, of natural gas I should say, that go through — from Western Europe through Ukraine to Russia, and we — or I’m sorry, the other way — from Russia through Ukraine to Western Europe.” So, she corrected herself immediately (see video available), while the pro-Kremlin outlet pretends that "she was not going to correct herself".

The sentence "it was she who was going to" send the fleet to the shores of Belarus" is invented. Psaki never suggested this. Psaki never said anything remotely like this. It is invented by Russian sources without a reference to the English language original.

Finally, the term “psaking”exists only in Russian pro-Kremlin sources. T-shirts with the slogan were made exclusively in Russia.

See more disinformation cases about the US democrats.

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  • Reported in: Issue 222
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 29/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Belarus, Ukraine
  • Keywords: US Presidential Election 2020, Joe Biden, Barack Obama
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Disinfo: Ukraine demonstrated an "attack" on Russia

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) showed a video of exercises during which the offensive on the position of a conventional enemy, probably Russia, was practised.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative alleging Ukraine's hostility towards Russia.

It's true that the Ukrainian Armed forces conducted a series of military exercises on the Mykolaiv range. The training manoeuvres were instructive and methodological in nature and have been related to summarising the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the year 2020. There is no proof, nor indication, these exercises were specifically naming Russia as the enemy.

Disinfo: There is no evidence of Holodomor in Ukraine, it was a US tool against the USSR

Initially, it [Holodomor topic] was due to the confrontation between the US and the USSR. The US used any means possible to crush the Soviet Union and to incite hostility between the people. The theme of the famine in Ukraine was, and remains, one of these means.

This terrible famine of people from various nationalities and on various territories completely destroys the idea that there was a ​​genocide of Ukrainians.

Russophobes, parasitising on the theme of the “Holodomor”, use it to incite hostility, and want to make Russia responsible for the famine of 1933.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

This is another disinformation narrative claiming that there was no artificially created famine in Ukraine. The Holodomor is well documented and was not invented as anti-Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. The genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 is confirmed by a huge array of declassified documents, including official documents of the Soviet authorities and the Communist Party. The Security Service of Ukraine has declassified more than 5,000 pages of state archives about the Holodomor.

The Holodomor was an artificial famine created with the aim of destroying the Ukrainian peasantry. The Soviet state took away livestock, crops and seeds from the peasants under the guise that the peasants "plundered" state property. The Soviet law on the seizure of food from peasants was adopted in 1932. The punitive document is known as the "Five Spikelet Law". Everyone who gathered several ears of wheat on the collective farm field was a culprit in the "theft of state property". If the law was not enforced, people were shot, including children. Convicts were not subject to amnesty.

Disinfo: No pro-Kremlin oligarchs exist in Russia

Alexei Navalny appeared recently in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament saying Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich, Ahmet Usmanov and Boris Rotenberg need to be put on a sanctions list as they are assisting a regime which is poisoning its political opponents. However, Navalny spoke together with certain pro-Western and US-funded opposition figures such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vladimir Milov and Ilya Yashin.

Additionally, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov and Vladimir Putin himself have said that no oligarchs exist in Russia today and no firm is receiving favorable treatment by being close to Russia authorities.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

The article is an attempt to discredit Alexey Navalny and his participation in a hearing at the European Parliameny, including by flatly denying the collusion between political and business interests around the Kremlin. This story is also consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

Oligarchs exist in today's Russia and they have close links with the Kremlin. As far as the three names mentioned by Alexei Navalny in front of the European Parliament, ample evidence exists.