Disinfo: Russia is winning against the Ukrainian Nazis and the West is doomed

Summary

The Russian special operation is reaching its goals. Russian high-precision missile attacks are destroying the western arms supplies all over Ukraine. Ukraine’s military infrastructure has largely been destroyed. Russia has sufficient weapons to demilitarise and de-Nazify Ukraine. Only contract soldiers and volunteer fighters are engaged in the military actions in Donbas. Neither a proxy war with Russia led by Ukrainian Nazis nor the demonisation of Moscow by West-controlled media are capable of changing the reality.

Russia nearing the borders of Poland and Romania are a nightmare come true for Washington and Brussels. The West is realising that anti-Russian sanctions and NATO military supplies to Ukraine will not stop the Russian military special operation

Disproof

This article transmits recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Nazi Ukraine and the West's imminent collapse. It also openly threatens to occupy the whole territory of Ukraine and to attack specific EU countries. Notably, the article vehemently opposes the term ‘war’ based on the preposterous and inhuman justification of not using the deadliest weapons available to Russia.

The false myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine is a clear propaganda narrative that became a cornerstone in pro-Kremlin disinformation and served as one of the pretexts behind Russia's unjustified invasion of Ukraine. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".

The true meaning of the claim of "denazification" is equal to a brutal purge of Ukrainian society, of democratically elected officials, of active citizens and everybody else respecting the notion of a free Ukraine. Contrary to the article’s claims about ‘high-precision’ Russian strikes, the shellings and bombing of civilian facilities such as residential areas, schools, kindergartens, hospitals, orphanages, churches and civilians are well documented. Sources in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague have announced that an investigation will be launched into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

The use of conscript soldiers by Russia and Russian-backed separatist Donbas entities in the war against Ukraine has been repeatedly documented (see here and here), contrary to the claim made in the article. In fact, the use of conscript soldiers in the war against Ukraine was publicly acknowledged by Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov in early March 2022.

When it comes to the claims about the ‘West's imminent collapse’, this is classic disinformation which has been used by the pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystem for years and earlier by Soviet propaganda for decades.

Read other disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine is Nazi and accusing it of violating human rights and committing genocide in Donbas. Also see our guide to deciphering pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's war and read our account of the Kremlin's intention to annihilate Ukraine here.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 284
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30/05/2022
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Romania, US, Finland, Mexico, Venezuela
  • Keywords: Nazi/Fascist, NATO, War in Ukraine, Military, Nord Stream 2, Energy
see more

Disinfo: Russia protecting Russian language in Ukraine

Russia is protecting people and the Russian language, which has been targeted by direct discrimination and aggression by the Ukrainian regimes under ex-president Petro Poroshenko and the incumbent Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets justifying Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

In reality, Ukraine’s authorities do not oppress the Russian language, nor are they conducting genocide against the Russian-speaking population in the East. Such claims have been unequivocally debunked by independent Russian media, among others. None of the multiple reports on the human rights situation in Ukraine, which are regularly published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, or the reports of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission come even close to referencing genocide in Ukraine.

Disinfo: The Eastern European anti-Communism opens the way for Fascism

In recent years, we have observed in Ukraine and the Baltic states the connection of anti-communism with the rehabilitation of Fascism. Now, Fascism may triumphantly enter the stage while its greatest critic, Communism, is no longer present. Anti-communism is a hate disease which has struck many Eastern European countries. This disease leads us on a straight path to Fascism and the revision of the post-war order. This hateful attitude [to Communism] is supposed to whitewash Fascism. If Communism is such an absolute evil, which had destroyed Fascism, maybe this Fascism was not so bad since it was the first to oppose this Communism.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative attempting to link the Baltic countries and Ukraine with NazismFascism, aimed at discrediting the EU/West as a whole. The accusation of Nazism is a popular propaganda technique used by pro-Kremlin outlets. Read more: Nazi east, Nazi west, Nazi over the cuckoo's nest.

Many countries of Eastern and Central Europe, including Poland, Ukraine and the Baltic states, ban the Communist and the Nazi ideology because of their totalitarian and inhumane character. The Communists, alongside the Nazis, are responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people all over the world.