Disinfo: Russia is the global champion of free speech

Summary

Russia is the global champion of free speech. There, citizens and journalists enjoy an unlimited freedom to speak their minds. In this regard, Russia has largely swapped places with the West, where freedom of speech is progressively disappearing. In Russia, one is free to say “I like Putin” or “I don’t like Putin”; one can say “I like gays” or “I don’t like gays.” In America, however, saying “I like Putin but I don’t like gays” would amount to suicide.

Disproof

The 2019 World Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) puts Russia in 149th place out of 180 countries ranked for media freedom. The organization attributes this ranking to website blocking, marginalization of independent media outlets, pollution of the information space with government propaganda, and deployment of "draconian media legislation". In the US, all speech is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution, "unless it is intended and likely to incite imminent violence."

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RIA (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 167
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24/09/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Russia
  • Keywords: Western values, West, Propaganda, Freedom of speech
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Disinfo: Washington is playing the "religion card" against societies, not yet under its control

Nowadays, Washington is playing the “religion card” in Georgia by primarily encouraging various Western religious groups to become more active in local communities. This is part of a carefully planned Western policy aimed at destabilising the environment in CIS and other countries where Washington is actively seeking to employ religion to meet its own needs shaped by public opinion in societies that are not yet under its control.

Sep 23, 2019
Disproof

No evidence given. Conspiracy theory and recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western attempts to instigate revolutions in EU neighbourhood. This narrative is also consistent with a narrative about "The West" challenging traditional values. Similar cases, where US is accused of attacking traditional values in Europe through "sects" can be found here, here and here.

Disinfo: Western media campaign supports the preparations of the US and NATO for nuclear war

There are some Western countries who actively support the US withdrawal from the INF Treaty in information space, Poland as the US lapdog, and some Baltic states. At the same time, many American analysts began discussing the hypothetical nuclear war between Russia, on the one hand, and the US and NATO, on the other. Nuclear war is presented by them as imminent. They calculate how many bombs will be needed for Moscow, Washington, New York, or St. Petersburg. The world is educated about the inevitability of nuclear war. Hence we see media covering the preparation of the US and NATO for a nuclear war. This is very worrisome given the Ukrainian situation, heated by the US.

Sep 23, 2019
Disproof

This is a conspiracy consistent with the recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about belligerent West aiming to conduct aggressive activities against Russia. When it comes to the conspiracy about NATO plans to wage a war against Russia, it was addressed by NATO's official website, which says that "any claims that NATO is preparing an attack on Russia are absurd." Authoritative western media do not run coordinated campaigns and are not dictated by western political powers. A high degree of media freedom in Western countries is reflected in the top ranks that Western countries occupy in respective world rankings including World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders. See earlier disinformation cases claiming that the EU and US dream about waging a war against Russia from Belarusian territory, that the West always dreams of splitting Russia, and that Russian company Rosneft is an object of a Western defamatory campaign for its successes.

Disinfo: The West has shown its cards: Russia must fall in 2021

The main blow against Russia will be made in 2021, in connection with the parliamentary elections. There are no doubts whatsoever about it. All that is going on is just rehearsals. After all, the parade of the “opposition”, ranging from professional “protestutes” against anything in the world, via seasoned clients of the US Embassy like Navalny and his crowd, to the freak-show of possessed shamans – all this are only the casting. An attempt to select those, who in two years will be transformed into “great thinkers” and, hence, moving the “revolution” forward; a revolution that finally, to the joy of Washington and its allies, will erase the Russian statehood from the face of the earth.

Sep 23, 2019
Disproof

Conspiracy theory, presented without evidence. The article is in line with a narrative that protests, in this case in Russia, are always financed by outside forces. Similar cases can be found here. The article is also consistent with a disinformation narrative about Russophobia and about Western belligerence towards Russia.