Disinfo: Russophobia has become an official ideology in Ukraine

Summary

Russophobia has become an official ideology in Ukraine and even a kind of civic religion.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia in Ukraine.

Ukraine is not an anti-Russian country. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia established diplomatic relations and signed a number of important treaties. On 31 May 1997, the countries signed a comprehensive Friendship Treaty. As a result, Russia recognised Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. It also recognised that Crimea belongs to Ukraine. In 2014 Russia violated the treaty and illegally annexed Crimea.

See similar disinformation cases in our database: West's support for Ukraine fosters Russophobia; Ukraine is a non-democratic and Russophobic state; the West imposes Russophobic policies on Ukraine.

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publication/media

nahnews.org (Archived)
politobzor.net (Archived)
russtrat.ru (Archived)
RIA (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 258
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 08/09/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Russophobia, Anti-Russian, Ukraine
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Disinfo: Leaving Afghanistan, the US military shot at the crowd of Afghans, killing children

The Americans were leaving [Afghanistan], suffering casualties and shooting indiscriminately, even killing children. At the Kabul airport, they suddenly began firing at the crowd and then struck from the air without discerning who is who. So, what? And who is counting? The lives of Muslims do not matter.

Sep 07, 2021
Disproof

The Americans have never shot deliberately at the crowd at the airport. On 16 August, there was an incident when a crowd of Afghans trying to leave the country broke into the airfield, interfering with takeoff. In this situation, the military fired several shots into the air.

At least five people were reported killed, although a witness said to Reuters it was unclear if they had been shot or killed in a stampede. A US official told Reuters two gunmen had been killed by US forces after they appeared to fire into the crowd.

Disinfo: Unlike the US, the USSR entered Afghanistan at the request of the legitimate government

Unlike the US in 2001, when the USSR entered Afghanistan in 1979, it did at the request of the Afghan government of the time with representation at the UN.

Sep 07, 2021
Disproof

The claim is false, part of a long-term effort by the Kremlin to whitewash and instrumentalise the history of the country, and in this case specifically the Soviet campaign in Afghanistan.

Declassified US and Soviet documents show that the USSR invaded Afghanistan out of fear that president Hafizullah Amin, who had recently toppled and killed pro-Soviet president Nur Taraki, was considering switching sides towards the West. During a Politburo meeting on December 12, 1979, Soviet leadership decided to intervene in the power struggle in Afghanistan against Amin, first launching a covert operation to try to murder him. After efforts to poison Amin failed, Soviet leaders approved sending a military contingent to the country following an “appeal of the government of Afghanistan”. This alleged appeal, hoisted by the USSR leadership at the time, only emerged after the Soviet invasion had already begun and Amin and some close aides had already been killed by Soviet paratroopers. The appeal was already seen sceptically at the time and has been proven by historians to be a mere pretext for the invasion, launched after Soviet military team ‘Zenit’ had seized the radio-television centre in Kabul.

Disinfo: The West hinders Georgia’s normalisation of relations with Russia

The West does not allow Georgia to sit down and talk to Russia one-on-one. Such discussions would allow the [Georgia-Russia] relations to normalise and would start positive shifts in all directions. It would finally reveal the face of the West and prove that it was the West that hindered the settlement of relations during this time.

Sep 07, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the belligerent West trying to encircle Russia. Consistent with a common pro-Kremlin narrative on “lost sovereignty” challenging Georgian statehood, as if Georgia is ruled by the West. Pro-Kremlin outlets often claim many countries, not under Moscow's control, became Western puppets.

Contrary to the claim, the West does not hinder Georgia from normalising relations with Russia. Georgia broke off diplomatic relations with Russia because the latter attacked Georgia in 2008, occupying 20% of the country and recognising the occupied regions of Georgia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, as independent states. Many international organisations condemned the further occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, see e.g. the CSCE statement here and the European Parliament's declaration.