Disinfo: The Council of Europe is Russophobic and rulings from the Strasbourg Court are anti-Russian

Summary

It is questionable, if Russia really needs membership of the Council of Europe in its present Russophobic form.

The negative attitude of the Russian public towards the European Court of Human Rights is partly explained by its regularly biased, anti-Russian judgments.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Russophobia.

Russia's voting rights in the Council of Europe were suspended after it illegally annexed Crimea. The voting rights have since been restored.

The claim that the European Court of Human Rights adopt anti-Russian rulings is ungrounded. The share of the Court's rulings on Russian-related applications where at least one violation of the European Convention of Human Rights was found by Court is not outstanding, the Court's 2018 Annual report shows. According to it, in 2,365 out of the 2,501 Russian-related cases at least one violation was found, that is in about 95% of cases. For example, the corresponding statistics was 1,273 and 1,434 cases for Romania (89%), 1,274 and 1,304 cases for Ukraine (98%). Hence the corresponding shares for some other CoE member states is around as high as for Russia, sometimes even higher.

Russia leads among other CoE member states in terms of pending cases in the ECtHR with 11,750 cases currently pending, which is a total of 20.9% of the backlog of cases, the same report from the Court shows. It is followed by Romania (8,500 cases) and Ukraine (7,250 cases). However, this figure does not mean anti-Russian bias as it just reflects the large numbers of applications lodged to the ECtHR by the nationals of given CoE member states.

See earlier disinformation cases about the Council of Europe and its bodies.

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sputnik.by (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 150
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 09/05/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: Council of Europe, Anti-Russian, Europe, Conspiracy theory
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Disinfo: Ukrainian language law deprives people of their rights and freedoms

Ukrainian language law makes it almost impossible for the Russian-speaking population [in Ukraine] to use the Russian language. This applies not only to the Russian language, but also to Hungarian and others […] That is, the law deprives people of their fundamental rights and freedoms. Moreover, the Constitution and the procedure of consideration were violated.

May 08, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Ukrainian language law and discrimination against Russian speakers. The Verkhovna Rada passed on April 25 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. However, the law does not forbid the use of Russian and other languages in private communication and religious ceremonies. Moreover, 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 in law enforcement. Ukrainian language, though, is preferred. 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 languages rights of minorities during the six months after the language law enters into force. For background on the Ukrainian language laws, see here.

Disinfo: There is no Russian aggression, there is a civil conflict in Eastern Ukraine

There are objective and subjective reasons why civil war in the East of Ukraine is not resolved. In part because the Ukrainian regime cannot confess to this crime. The regime that will take responsibility for the beginning, development, and continuation of the civil conflict in the East must be held responsible in the court. The Ukrainians invented a beautiful tale about intervention, about the aggressor, but in fact, they were telling us only a quarter of the truth.

May 08, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine and the war in Ukraine. Russia provoked the war in Eastern Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court recognised that “the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation". The international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February 2014 when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government. The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation". At the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014, NATO leaders condemned in the strongest terms Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and demanded Russia to stop and withdraw its forces from Ukraine and from the country’s border. NATO leaders also demanded Russia to comply with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities; refrain from aggressive actions against Ukraine; halt the flow of weapons, equipment, people and money across the border to the separatists; and stop fomenting tension along and across the Ukrainian border. According to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Russian special forces and troops operated to mobilise, lead, equip, and support separatist militias in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine from spring 2014 to the present, although their presence was denied by Moscow.

Disinfo: Ukraine wants to place nuclear mines on the border with Russia

Ukraine wants to install nuclear mines along the length of the entire border with Russia. The location of mines should be recognised as a state secret, because Ukraine can develop its own nuclear weapons without any obstacles.

May 08, 2019
Disproof

There is no Ukrainian state program that would involve the creation of nuclear weapons. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine gained the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world: 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons. However, in December 1994, Kyiv signed the Budapest Memorandum. This international document provided security guarantees in exchange for the renunciation of nuclear weapons. The guarantors of the memorandum are the United States, United Kingdom and Russia. In the same year, in 1994, the export of nuclear missiles from Ukraine to Russia began. The process lasted two years. The last Ukrainian nuclear warhead was exported to Russia in the summer of 1996. Ukraine completely lost its nuclear status in 2001, when it dismantled the latest mine-launch facility of intercontinental solid-fuel missiles. Since then, Ukraine does not possess any nuclear weapons. Consistent with recurring pro-Kremling disinfomation narrative on encircled Russia.