Disinfo: Russian is now only allowed in private communication and religious ceremonies in Ukraine

Summary

In line with the new Language Law, Russian is only allowed in private communication and for the religious ceremonies. In practice, Ukrainians are divided into Ukrainian-speakers and “outlaws”. And the latter ones are limited in their ability to study, receive health care and use other social goods.

Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative criticising the new Law on the Language in Ukraine. See the recent cases here and here. On April 25, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada passed the law "on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language". The law establishes mandatory use of the Ukrainian language in most areas of public and communal life, including the mass media, education, science, etc. Indeed, Russian is allowed in private communications and religious ceremonies. But in addition to that, Russian and other languages can be present in book publishing, the press, including radio and television, education and the service sector. The law allows the use of other languages in the healthcare system and law enforcement. In addition to this, the law stipulates that in accordance with the European Charter for Regional Languages and Languages of National Minorities, the government should develop a law safeguarding language-rights of the minorities within six months of the language law entering into force.

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sputnik.by (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 160
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 30/07/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: Russian language, Russophobia
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Disinfo: The blackout in Venezuela on July 22 was caused by a US spy plane

Venezuelan government says that the electromagnetic attack that caused the blackout on July 22, leaving 15 of the 23 states of the country without electricity, was launched from a US spy plane. This hasn’t been denied by Washington, which says that it was a mission approved by several nations.

Jul 29, 2019
Disproof

No evidence is given to support the claim that the July 22 blackout was caused by an electromagnetic attack or that it was launched from a plane. Rather, most experts think that the most likely reason for the frequent blackouts in Venezuela is the poor maintenance of the electric grid of the country.

Nicolás Maduro’s government tried to link the interception of a US surveillance plane EP-3 by a Sukhoi Su-30 of the Venezuelan Air Force on July 19 to the mentioned power outage that took place three days later. RT news programme intentionally misled spectators by claiming that Washington said “the mission was approved by several nations”. It referred to comments to the Associated Press Spanish service made by the head of the US Southern Command, Admiral Craig Faller, who admitted the existence of surveillance flights over Venezuela in close coordination with Brazil and Colombia, but by no means did he mean an operation to cause a blackout in a country.

Disinfo: The West continues to punish residents of Crimea for their will of self-determination

Western countries continue their attempts to punish the residents of Crimea for their will of self-determination, expressed in a referendum in 2014. The refusal of EU countries to issue Schengen visas to Crimean residents with passports received on the peninsula after 2014, violates citizens’ rights to free movement, contradicts international human rights standards and is politically motivated.

Jul 29, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the illegal annexation of Crimea. Disinformation message appeared after a statement of the head of the European Union’s mission in Moscow, Marcus Ederer. On July 22, he stressed that the European Union did not recognise and will not recognise the Russian annexation of Crimea, therefore Russian passports issued in Crimea by the Russian authorities after the annexation will not be recognized and accepted when applying for a Schengen visa. Ederer advised residents of the peninsula to visit European countries using their Ukrainian documents. With the annexation of the Ukrainian Crimea, Russia forcibly imposed the citizenship of the occupying country on two million Crimeans. Crimeans remain citizens of Ukraine, who can obtain a biometric passport and freely take advantage of the visa-free regime with the European Union by visiting a wide list of states without obtaining any additional visas. You can read more on the topic here, here and here.

Disinfo: Research report ties nuclear accident in 2017 to Italy

Two years ago, in October 2017, several European countries detected elevated levels of radiation in the air. An accident at the Mayak nuclear plant in southern Urals was said to have caused the nuclear cloud. Now, a team of physicists have established that Italian scientists from the Borexino neutrino detector, who performed physical experiments, were to blame for the leakage of radioactive ruthenium-106 into the atmosphere of Russia and Europe. The Russian Mayak plant, which was accused of releasing a hazardous chemical, is not to blame.

Jul 29, 2019
Disproof

The claim contradicts the findings of the study, referred to in the article.The study clearly identifies the source of the radiation.

The data suggest a release from a nuclear reprocessing facility located in the Southern Urals, possibly from the Mayak nuclear complex.

Scientists from 32 countries studied the release of ruthenium-106 for two years, a cloud of which covered Russia and Europe in 2017. The results of the study pointed to the Russian Mayak plant, which was engaged in the manufacture of a radioactive source for a neutrino experiment in Italy. Ruthenium-106 does not exist in nature, and Russian scientists obtain it from used nuclear fuel. A special group of scientists who investigated the causes of the radioactive cloud analysed the movement of the atmosphere over Russia and Europe. Scientists have analysed more than 1300 measurements of radioactive background from 176 stations in nearly 30 countries. These specialists concluded that the release of the hazardous substances occurred at the Russian Mayak plant from the evening of September 25th 2017 to noon on September 26th 2017. The authors of the study also reject the version about the possible fall of a satellite with a radioisotope source based on ruthenium on board. Scientists rejected the version that ruthenium-106 could have been thrown out as a result of an accident at the reactor: in this case, the atmosphere would have recorded elevated levels of other radioactive isotopes. In the Italian laboratory at the Gran Sasso Apennines in 2017, preparations were underway for an experiment aimed at identifying an elementary particle of matter, the so-called sterile neutrino. For this, Italy needed a source of strong radiation from radioactive cerium-144. The Russian plant Mayak was going to deliver it. After the accident, Russian scientists said they were not able to produce a cerium source of neutrinos with the necessary parameters. Read more about the accident here.