Disinfo: The purpose of removing the monument to Marshall Konev is to induce hatred towards Russia

Summary

The destruction of war memorials and graves violates the 1993 treaty between Russia and the Czech Republic. It is especially shameful such things to occur on the basis of a political whim that has nothing whatsoever to do with the past. The aim of the situation with the statue of Marshall Konev is to induce hatred against Russia as part of a war psychosis aimed at provoking aggression against Russia.

Disproof

This is a false claim and one of several disinformation cases about the statue of Marshall Konev in Prague. It is also consistent with common pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Russophobia and the supposedly hostile anti-Russian intentions of the West, based on which Russia can cast itself as the victim. The monument to Marshall Konev was erected in 1980 during the "normalisation" period in communist Czechoslovakia. The leadership of Prague's Municipal District 6, which retains legal ownership of the statue, has voted to move the monument to a museum and replace it with a memorial commemorating Soviet sacrifices in the fight against Hitler in general, and the liberation of Prague in particular. More information available here. The Kremlin has a longstanding track record of smearing and misrepresenting efforts by post-communist countries to address the legacy of Soviet memorials. For similar cases, see here.

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cz.sputniknews.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 165
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17/09/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Czech
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Czech Republic, Russia
  • Keywords: Monuments, Anti-Russian, Destabilising Russia, Russophobia
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Disinfo: There was an unprecedented level of foreign interference in the election to the Moscow City Duma

No one pays attention to who works with whom. Deutsche Welle, BBC, Navalny, Venediktov and so on, all worked in unison. And this is perceived as normal. That is, there was an unprecedented level of foreign interference in Moscow City Duma elections.

Sep 16, 2019
Disproof

Unfounded conspiracy theory on foreign influence in Russian politics, and the US and/or other actors standing behind any expressions of popular discontent. Similar cases can be found here and here. Andrei Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie thinktank Moscow Centre, told Euronews that "External interference is mythologem. This is typical of the current government and typical of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, who believes that no one can take to the streets of their own free will: (for him) Maidan was organised by the US and so are these protests." At the same time, before the elections Russian police suppressed pro-democracy demonstrations across Moscow, detaining around 1,000 people. Meanwhile, a Levada Centre poll published on 6 August showed that a relative majority of Muscovites supported the protests (37% in favour, versus 27% against). A nationwide poll released by the Levada Center on 3 September showed that a majority of Russians (58%) don’t believe the government propaganda line about Moscow protests being fomented by the West.

Disinfo: Zelenskyy administration drastically increases military spending despite peace rhetorics

The Ukrainian Parliament presented its Draft National Budget for 2020. The almost two times increase of the country’s military budget was announced at a briefing by Minister of Finance Oksana Markarova. The increase in defense is clearly aimed at ramping up preparations for an aggressive war. This goes directly in contrast with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s claims that Ukraine currently wishes for normalization of the situation in Eastern Ukraine. If peace was the aim, why would so much investment be needed in defense, especially when the country clearly has no funds, judging by the rumors of yet another IMF loan? Furthermore, the announced “disarmament” of the Nazi-infested “volunteer battalions” left them with half their weapons in place, and it became apparent that they weren’t withdrawn from the frontline as it was suggested earlier.

Sep 16, 2019
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine, implying that Ukraine is the aggressor. The disinformation case also repeats a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on fascism in Ukraine. Examples of similar cases can be found here and here. In fact, the international community, including the European Union recognizes and condemns clear violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity by acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since February 2014.

Disinfo: The West hides important evidence on MH17 disaster

The West continues to hide information. The international investigation group just continues to ignore important details that point to a series of explosions on board MH17.

Sep 16, 2019
Disproof

This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the downing of flight MH17. The version about an explosion on board the plane is one of many pro-Kremlin versions of the event. It was not confirmed by the international investigation team. In fact, in September 2016, the JIT concluded that Flight MH17 was shot down by a missile from the 9M38 series, which was launched by a BUK TELAR missile system. The system was transported from the Russian Federation to an agricultural field near the town of Pervomaiskyi in Eastern Ukraine, from where the missile was launched. After firing, the system - with one missing missile – was transported back to the Russian Federation. On the 24th of May 2018, the JIT announced that the BUK TELAR used to shoot down MH17 came from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, a unit of the Russian armed forces from Kursk in the Russian Federation. On the basis of the investigation conducted by the JIT, consisting of law enforcement agencies from Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Ukraine and the Netherlands, the Dutch Public Persecution service is to prosecute Igor Vsevolodovich Girkin, Sergey Nikolayevich Dubinskiy, Oleg Yuldashevich Pulatov, and Leonid Volodymyrovych Kharchenko for causing the MH17 crash and murdering the 298 persons on board. A public hearing is set for the 9th of March 2020 in the Netherlands. See here for more information. The JIT conclusions were further corroborated by Bellingcat. For the full Bellingcat report see here. For a similar case click here. For a summary of disinformation narratives on this case see here.