Disinfo: Russian government, unlike France or the EU, has a legitimacy that comes from the masses

Summary

Russia, unlike France or countries of the European Union, has legitimacy that comes from the bottom. The people give legitimacy to the government. A government cannot allow itself, as in France, to function with 30% of popularity. A head of state in this case would literally blow up the country.

Disproof

Recurrent narrative about non democratic Europe as opposed to Russia's democracy. The same video contained another disinformation message about so called Western "values" being a denial of human value. Democracy and rule of law involve certain mechanisms in the institutions that allow the state to express the will of people and respect the rights of individuals and minority groups. As the Council of Europe states, it is not necessarily the rule of the majority against the minorities if the right of minorities are violated. Democracy is not about the popularity of its leader, on the contrary, regimes for which the leaders are the most well known and popular are often autocracy, monarchy, tyranny and dictatorship. Popularity polls cannot be used as a way to legitimize one political regime against another one. According to Freedom House which evaluates the France with a score of 90/100: "the French political system features vibrant democratic processes and affords generally strong protections to civil liberties and political rights. However, due to a number of deadly terrorist attacks in recent years, successive governments have been willing to curtail constitutional protections and empower law enforcement. Anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment have also increased." Russia on the other hand is evaluated at 20/100: "Power in Russia’s authoritarian political system is concentrated in the hands of President Vladimir Putin. With loyalist security forces, a subservient judiciary, a controlled media environment, and a legislature consisting of a ruling party and pliable opposition factions, the Kremlin is able to manipulate elections and suppress genuine dissent. Rampant corruption facilitates shifting links among bureaucrats and organized crime groups." See more disinformation cases on the Western countries as dictatorships or the falling approval ratings of Vladimir Putin.

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RT France - YouTube
  • Reported in: Issue 204
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 02/07/2020
  • Outlet language(s) French
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: EU, France, Russia
  • Keywords: Democracy, Referendum, Vladimir Putin
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Disinfo: The SBU is today's Gestapo

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has been named Gestapo on the territory of “de jure Ukraine”. The crimes committed by the SBU are without limits. They commit atrocities both against the peaceful population of the Ukraine and the citizens of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republic. A report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) published in June 2016 found that the SBU detained and tortured people incommunicado and confirms the existence of secret SBU prisons.

Jul 01, 2020
Disproof

This is a new take on an already well known Russian disinformation narrative, attempting to portray Ukraine as a Nazi state. The June 2016 report by the OHCHR on human rights in Ukraine did highlight that arbitrary detentions and torture, several of them committed by the SBU, are a considerable problem. The scale of these detentions is unknown. The report notes that in early 2015, 72 people might have been detained in the Kharkiv SBU. The report also emphasizes that the majority of the incidents were committed in the conflict zone at the time. However, in line with standard Russian disinformation methods, the article fails to reveal that the same report also condemns the armed separatist groups for "killings, abductions, arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment in territories controlled by them. The Nazis performed a deliberate, systematic and mechanized extermination of European Jewry, political opposition and "undesirables" throughout the Nazi-occupied territories. Comparing any wrongdoings by Ukrainian authorities cannot be compared to the war crimes of the Nazi system.

Disinfo: Russian Media are being discriminated in Baltic states

Sputnik Latvia regularly talks about discrimination against Russian media in the Baltic countries. Since January 1, Estonia has actually banned the work of the Sputnik editorial office in Tallinn, threatening employees with criminal prosecution. In Latvia, Sputnik employees are also pressured not only in the form of “conversations” with representatives of the special services, but also through an informal ban on opening bank accounts for them. This (ban on broadcasting of RT) is another case of violation of freedom of speech and freedom of information. The decision to ban RT in Latvia on the basis of false information is an indicator of the stupidity of the Latvian authorities blinded by Russophobia.

Jul 01, 2020
Disproof

This claim tries to portray EU sanctions on Russia, the result of its illegal actions in Ukraine, as unfair persecution against Sputnik and its employees, and against media freedom in general. In all of the mentioned countries Sputnik and RT are being accused of spreading disinformation, violating copyrights, acting as a propaganda instrument.

In Estonia, Sputnik is wrongly represented as a victim of unprecedented persecution. This kind of statements were debunked several times. Read here. The steps taken by Estonia are based on the Article 2 of the Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 on the territorial integrity of Ukraine that foresees freezing the assets of Dmitry Kiselyov, the Director-General of Rossija Segodnya.

Disinfo: The West interferes in Russian and Chinese affairs, organises colour revolutions

A recently adopted Hong Kong law eliminates the vulnerability of inadequate countermeasures to colour revolutions, which Western countries are masters at. The intensity of efforts by the collective West to prevent legal amendments in Hong Kong is explained by the reasoning applied by Western puppeteers. Advocates of capitulation to the West are ready to man the barricades and use subversive activities only if they do not face any consequences. “Colour” revolutionaries want money, power, comfort, and social approval. As soon as they are deprived of comfort, the wish to take part in political life runs out to zero. The West’s attempts to interfere in China’s domestic affairs proves that anti-Russian sanctions allegedly linked to the Crimea referendum, in reality have nothing to do with Russian actions. Inevitable anti-China sanctions linked to Hong Kong will not have anything to do with Beijing’s actions either. Sanctions and interference in Russian and Chinese domestic affairs by the West will take place in any case, convenient excuses will just be used.

Jul 01, 2020
Disproof

This is a conspiracy theory consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin narratives about Western influence behind the protests in Hong Kong and the West's anti-Russian activities.The pro-Kremlin media frequently use disinformation narratives about popular protests allegedly incited and funded by the US around the world, including colour revolutions in post-Soviet states, the “Arab Spring” revolts, Euromaidan in Ukraine, protests in Catalonia and others. The protests in Hong Kong started in June 2019 when hundreds of thousands of people protested against a legislative proposal that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China. The protests continued for months, as they morphed into a battle over Beijing’s deepening control of the city. Protesters demanded electoral reforms and an independent investigation into police violence. Chinese state-run media sought to discredit the protesters, calling their actions “terrorism,” and to spread disinformation. Crimea is a part of Ukraine and was illegally annexed by Russia. In 2014, Russian troops obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was illegitimate under international law, and then formally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. The EU's policy of non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol includes a set of restrictive measures against entities and individuals responsible for actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity. See earlier disinformation cases alleging that Britain and US are organising the protests in Hong Kong, the Luciferian Zionist Rothschild crime family controls the Western mainstream media, and the West always dreams of splitting Russia.