Disinfo: The OSCE is a criminal organisation that in favour of war in Donbas

Summary

With the same ease with which it orders an attack that kills a child, Kyiv activates the 2011 Vienna Document of the Organisation for the Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on Confidence- and Security-Building Measures, for Moscow to “clarify the significant increase of the military presence of the Russian Federation along the border with Ukraine” inside the Russian territory.

OSCE tries not to publish honest data on the situation in Donbas, which would show how many citizens and civilian facilities were affected by the conflict, and that in most cases Kyiv attacks and militias respond.

OSCE, one of the most ridiculous and useless institutions that we could see in the last years, is in Donbas and it looks that it doesn’t see anything. But since that is not possible, because they are not stupid, what they are doing is hiding it. The OSCE in favour of war. It is a criminal organisation that must be dissolved.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about war in Ukraine and OSCE.

The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine publishes daily reports on the situation, and there is no basis for the claim that the organisation is trying to hide its data. The Russian Federation, in fact, is a member state of OSCE since its foundation. The claim about the death of a child in an attack by Kyiv forces is false, since it was the result of an accident with explosives or old ammunition. See here for our previous debunk of the incident.

These disinformation messages aim to deflect any Russian responsibility in the escalation in Donbas in March/April 2021, after Moscow-backed separatists mounted tensions for several weeks under the pretext that Ukrainian troops were planning an offensive, a situation that culminated in a massive deployment of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border. Russia is seen by the international community as responsible of this escalation: on 12 April 2021, the G7 Foreign Ministers and the EU High Representative stated that "these large-scale troop movements, without prior notification, represent threatening and destabilising activities”. On 22 April 2021, Russia started withdrawing its troops from the Ukrainian border. However, this has not stopped clashes in Donbas, and part of the Russian military equipment remains in the region.

See other examples of disinformation narratives about the supposed anti-Russian bias of international institutions- such as the OPCW, the World Anti-Doping Agency or the United Nations, which always falsely accuse Russia-, about the alleged Russophobia of the EU, and about “absurd” accusations against Russia as an attempt to demonise it.

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mundo.sputniknews.com (Archived)
mundo.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 03/05/2021
  • Article language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: OSCE, Donbas, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: People killed in Odesa on 2 May 2014 are victims of political terror

People killed in Odesa on 2 May 2014 are victims of political terror. Time passes, but Ukrainian authorities are indifferent to the grief of the victims’ relatives, and the perpetrators and their political sponsors remain unpunished.

May 02, 2021
Disproof

This is a pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about violent clashes that happened between pro-Russian activists (also known as anti-Maidan) and Ukrainian patriots in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on May 2, 2014, and the ensuing fire in the House of the Trade Unions. In reality, these tragic events have nothing to do with political terror. A total of 48 people died that day, most of them being pro-Russian activists. About 200 were wounded. Pro-Kremlin forces accuse Maidan leaders of instigating the clashes, claiming also that far-right nationalists burned dozens of people alive, while Ukrainian patriots say that Moscow and its agents of influence in Ukraine are to blame for these violent events.

On that day, about 300 well-organised pro-Russian supporters attacked a march of about 2,000 Ukrainian patriots, including local residents and a large number of football fans who had arrived from Kharkiv for a football game. Both groups used firearms in the clashes. 6 pro-Russian supporters and 2 Ukrainian patriots were shot and killed as a result. Pro-Russian activists began throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at their opponents. The situation went out of control as the police failed to respond effectively to violence. The investigation is still underway. Several individuals prosecuted in relation to these events have managed to flee abroad. Some of them took refuge in the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, now occupied by the Russian Federation, while others fled to the separatist-held territories in Donbas.

Disinfo: Odessa tragedy was a pre-planned massacre of people who disagreed with the coup in Kyiv

It was a pre-planned, prepared massacre of people who disagreed with the coup d'état that took place on February 21, 2014, in Kyiv.

May 02, 2021
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Odesa tragedy alleging that the Ukrainian government was planning the killings of people in the House of Unions. This narrative is combined with another recurrent claim about Euromaidan as a coup.

There is no evidence that the Ukrainian government was involved in the Odessa tragedy. No trial has yet established the responsibilities of the different actors before a court. A total of 5 cases on trials and 3 investigations are currently ongoing. Media reported about the tragedy in May 2014: the BBC, the Guardian, the DW. A chronology of the events has been established (1 and 2) and a non-partisan documentary film by Ukrainian Channel 7 has collected testimonies: May 2nd without Myth.

Disinfo: The West is pursuing an absolutely unfriendly and hostile policy towards Russia

Russia has imposed sanctions against the heads of the European Parliament and the prosecutor's office in Berlin. This is a response to those absolutely unfriendly and sometimes even hostile actions that we see from the collective West. The West is pursuing one seditious thought, accusing Russia of increasing escalation, saying that it was through Russia's actions that the deterioration and degradation of bilateral relations began. But this is not true. We have not done anything that could provoke such actions on the part of our Western partners. This is purposeful, as we now understand it, and, apparently, a long-planned policy towards the Russian Federation.

May 01, 2021
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the West's aggressive Russophobic policy and allegedly belligerent and hostile agenda against Russia.

The EU and Russia have committed to upholding and respecting the fundamental values and principles of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and the market economy. Russia remains a natural partner for the EU and a strategic player combating the regional and global challenges. The EU’s approach to Russia is guided by five principles agreed in 2016 and reaffirmed, most recently, by EU Foreign Ministers in October 2020. Read more about the EU-Russia relations here.