Disinfo: Sandu wants to arrange a second Karabakh in Transnistria

Summary

Sandu wants to arrange a second Karabakh in Transnistria (the title).

Sandu in an interview […] says without hesitation: withdraw the peacekeepers as soon as possible, and we will arrange our Karabakh for Tiraspol. That is, it intends to use the army against Transnistria.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative spread before the recent Presidential elections claiming that if Maia Sandu won, relations with Transnistria will deteriorate and the conflict will break out again. The elected president of the Republic of Moldova, Maia Sandu, is credited with statements she did not make in an interview given on November 20 to the publication Европейская правда (Ukraine).

In the interview, she said nothing about Russian peacekeepers, the introduction of the army into Transnistria, or Nagorno-Karabakh. On the contrary, she spoke of a peaceful settlement of the conflict: ”I believe that one day there will be a geopolitical opportunity for the reunification of Moldova, and we must be ready for this. But in any case, it should be a peaceful solution”. Talking about the solution of the conflict, Maia Sandu said ”it should include the complete withdrawal of Russian troops from the territory of Moldova”.

She repeated this in another interview interview with the public TV Moldova 1 on November 26 (min. 41.13). Maia Sandu said that the task force of Russian troops in Tiraspol and Russian ammunition in the Transnistrian region must be withdrawn, this being the official position of all previous governments of the Republic of Moldova, which she will continue to promote. She did not say anything about the peace keepers in that interview either. The statement on the withdrawal of Russian troops generated a reaction from the Russian Foreign Ministry. Spokeswoman Maria Zaharova said: ”We view this statement as aimed at undermining efforts to peacefully resolve the Transnistrian problem”.

See other narratives targeting Maia Sandu and Moldovan presidential elections taken place on 1 and 15 November in our analysis.

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Bloknot Moldova (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 222
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 29/11/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Moldova, Russia
  • Keywords: Maia Sandu, Transnistria, Nagorno-Karabakh
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Disinfo: Ukraine demonstrated an "attack" on Russia

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) showed a video of exercises during which the offensive on the position of a conventional enemy, probably Russia, was practised.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative alleging Ukraine's hostility towards Russia.

It's true that the Ukrainian Armed forces conducted a series of military exercises on the Mykolaiv range. The training manoeuvres were instructive and methodological in nature and have been related to summarising the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the year 2020. There is no proof, nor indication, these exercises were specifically naming Russia as the enemy.

Disinfo: There is no evidence of Holodomor in Ukraine, it was a US tool against the USSR

Initially, it [Holodomor topic] was due to the confrontation between the US and the USSR. The US used any means possible to crush the Soviet Union and to incite hostility between the people. The theme of the famine in Ukraine was, and remains, one of these means.

This terrible famine of people from various nationalities and on various territories completely destroys the idea that there was a ​​genocide of Ukrainians.

Russophobes, parasitising on the theme of the “Holodomor”, use it to incite hostility, and want to make Russia responsible for the famine of 1933.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

This is another disinformation narrative claiming that there was no artificially created famine in Ukraine. The Holodomor is well documented and was not invented as anti-Soviet propaganda during the Cold War. The genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 is confirmed by a huge array of declassified documents, including official documents of the Soviet authorities and the Communist Party. The Security Service of Ukraine has declassified more than 5,000 pages of state archives about the Holodomor.

The Holodomor was an artificial famine created with the aim of destroying the Ukrainian peasantry. The Soviet state took away livestock, crops and seeds from the peasants under the guise that the peasants "plundered" state property. The Soviet law on the seizure of food from peasants was adopted in 1932. The punitive document is known as the "Five Spikelet Law". Everyone who gathered several ears of wheat on the collective farm field was a culprit in the "theft of state property". If the law was not enforced, people were shot, including children. Convicts were not subject to amnesty.

Disinfo: No pro-Kremlin oligarchs exist in Russia

Alexei Navalny appeared recently in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament saying Russian oligarchs Roman Abramovich, Ahmet Usmanov and Boris Rotenberg need to be put on a sanctions list as they are assisting a regime which is poisoning its political opponents. However, Navalny spoke together with certain pro-Western and US-funded opposition figures such as Vladimir Kara-Murza, Vladimir Milov and Ilya Yashin.

Additionally, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov and Vladimir Putin himself have said that no oligarchs exist in Russia today and no firm is receiving favorable treatment by being close to Russia authorities.

Nov 28, 2020
Disproof

The article is an attempt to discredit Alexey Navalny and his participation in a hearing at the European Parliameny, including by flatly denying the collusion between political and business interests around the Kremlin. This story is also consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.

Oligarchs exist in today's Russia and they have close links with the Kremlin. As far as the three names mentioned by Alexei Navalny in front of the European Parliament, ample evidence exists.