Disinfo: Sanctions actually help Russia

Summary

In fact, sanctions imposed on Russia are helping it. It is going to help end the dependence on others and solidify Russian solidarity.

Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Western sanctions imposed on Russia. Similar debunks can be seen here or here.

EU sanctions and other restrictive measures were first applied in 2014 following the Russian annexation of Crimea. Since then, the list has been updated. The United States also imposed sanctions on Russia after the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity in 2014.

The sanctions are not helping Russia. According to a Bloomberg report, they have knocked off 6 percent of Russia’s GDP since 2014. The sanctions played a major role, although other factors were present as well. And the GDP of the Russian Federation is now 10 percent smaller than might have been expected before the crisis in Crimea. Sanctions also play an important role in the relatively small wage increase in Russia in comparison to other countries in 2019.

Most research supports the view that sanctions have worked as planned, noting the drag they have imposed on Russia’s general economic development since 2014. This adverse effect most likely operates by depressing both foreign trade and foreign capital flows into Russia. Or as The Washington Post said: "The sanctions have stunted Russian economic growth and sapped the urban middle class of wealth and opportunity." Russia’s own counter-sanctions have also had a clear negative effect on the welfare of the average Russian household.

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cz.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 223
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 23/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Czech
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: Sanctions
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Disinfo: Bucharest has a project that aims to absorb Moldova, Transnistria and some regions of Ukraine

Bucharest is hatching the project of Greater Romania, which involves the absorption of Moldova, Transnistria and Chernivtsi and Odesa regions of Ukraine. Thus, the Romanian strategists hope to turn Romania into the leader of South-Eastern Europe with access to the Balkans and the Black Sea region with the spread of Romanian influence all the way to the Caspian Sea. The existence of the Transnistrian state spoils the whole picture for the Romanians. Greater Romania cannot move forward, because there is Transnistria and Russian peacekeepers on the Dniester. The displacement of Russian blue helmets from Transnistria is a top priority for Bucharest.

Nov 22, 2020
Disproof

No evidence is given. Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Romania, questioning Moldova's and Ukraine's integrity.

Romania adheres to international law regarding state borders and has no territorial claims upon Ukraine or Moldova.

Disinfo: Colour revolution and foreign scenarios in Belarus 

The Belarusian president considers what is happening in the country a scenario similar to what is being prepared in neighbouring countries and is called a colour revolution, which has failed. Countries and opposition forces are today trying to implement a new wave of protests and demonstrations, but by other methods and scenarios prepared and planned in advance.

Nov 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing popular protests as Western-backed 'colour revolutions', part of a campaign to portray massive mobilisations in Belarus as a destabilisation effort orchestrated from abroad.

There is no evidence that the protests in Belarus are funded and organised by neighbouring or foreign countries.

Disinfo: France became one of the winners of World War II thanks to Stalin

It was Stalin who mostly made De Gaulle a world-class politician. Moreover, where would France itself be now, if not for Stalin and the USSR?

The representative of France was at that table [during the signing of the German surrender act on May 9, 1945 in Berlin] only at the behest of Stalin, because the United States and England did not see France at all among the victorious countries. The Second World War could well have ended in a terrible disgrace for France.

Thanks to the support of the USSR and Stalin’s position personally, France managed to get into not only the group of victorious powers in World War II, but also to become one of the five founding countries of the UN. That is why France is now a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Nov 22, 2020
Disproof

This recurrent disinformation narrative is part of the Kremlin’s policy of historical revisionism of the events of WWII.

France and Britain declared war on Germany when it invaded Poland in September 1939 (at that time, the USRR acted as an ally of Germany and invaded Poland, the Baltic States and Finland in accordance with the Hitler-Stain Pact, also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact ). After the Phoney War from 1939 to 1940, the Germans invaded and defeated France within seven weeks and forced the British off the continent. France surrendered to Germany although the French force, in-exile, led by General Charles de Gaulle continued the liberation of France by the Western Allies UK and US. The Forces of Free France took part in combat against Axis forces at several theatres of warfare, not least on the Eastern Front, where a unit of French airmen fought together with USSR aviators.