Disinfo: Russia is not using energy as a political weapon

Summary

Moscow has always been meeting its commitments as far as it concerns deliveries of natural gas to Europe and has never used its energy resources as a political weapon or as a coercion tool. It is actually the United States which are using sanctions to derail commercial energy projects.

Disproof

This story is part of a repeated pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative, lately related more specifically to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

The report is using a statement made by the White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan during his trip to Europe when he said, commenting about the energy prices' rise that "Russia has a history of using energy as a tool of coercion, as a political weapon. Whether that's what's happening here now is something I will leave to others".

The Kremlin’s use of energy coercion has been solidly corroborated. Russian energy companies, presumably with the Kremlin’s blessing, have made multiple attempts over the past 30 years to use energy supplies to advance Moscow’s strategic priorities. Events in Ukraine both in 2009 and in 2014 are two cases in point, while another example can be observed in Lithuania. Russia has a long track record of using gas export to Belarus as a political tool.

More cases concerning European energy issues including Europe catastrophically lacks gas; the US wants to completely capture the European gas market and the US would like to resell Russian gas to Europe.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 262
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 08/10/2021
  • Article language(s) Greek
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, US, EU
  • Keywords: Energy, Anti-Russian, Sanctions, gas
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Disinfo: The EU is trying to flood Belarus with terrorists under the guise of refugees

The migration war waged between Belarus and its neighbouring EU countries has entered a new phase of bitterness. EU leaders tirelessly accuse Alexander Lukashenko of "a hybrid attack on a free Europe with the help of migrants." The Belarusians, in turn, convict the “civilised Europeans” of the sadistic treatment of refugees. Moreover, as noted in Minsk, the European Union is trying to flood Belarus with terrorists under the guise of refugees.

Disproof

Disinformation narrative about the ongoing migration crisis on the eastern borders of the European Union.

The migration crisis was directly caused by the Belarusian authorities.

Disinfo: Terrorists and White Helmets prepare chemical attack in Syria

Islamist terrorist organisations are preparing an attack with chemical weapons against government forces in cooperation with the pseudo-humanitarian group White Helmets.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation painting the White Helmets as terrorists and shifting blame for chemical attacks in Syria away from Damascus.

The claim is made without evidence and follows an established pattern of unsubstantiated accusations regarding the White Helmets' complicity in chemical attacks in Syria. Available evidence on such attacks has yet to link a single incident to any other party than the Assad regime.

Disinfo: Western polls confirm Lukashenka's victory in presidential election in Belarus

In Belarus, Westerners conducted sociological research, where Belarusians unequivocally stated that no Tsikhanouskaya had ever won the election. And they admit that the current president is definitely the winner.

Disproof

The claim that "Westerners" allegedly conducted research confirming the victory of Lukashenka in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election is not supported by any evidence. No recent known Western researches confirm this claim.

In October 2020, Chatham house published a poll on Belarus. When the respondents were asked how they voted, only 20.6% of respondents said they voted for Lukashenka, while 52.2% said they cast their vote for his opponent Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Another survey was conducted in March 2021 by the German Center for Eastern European and International Studies (ZoiS). According to this poll, 53% of those polled said that they voted for Tsikanouskaya, and 65% believe that the election results were falsified in favour of Lukashenka. There were only 18% of those who voted for him among respondents.