Disinfo: The Russian army has nothing to do with the provocation in Bucha

Summary

There was a serious breakthrough at the talks between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, but then Russia faced a provocation in Bucha. The Russian army has nothing to do with the events in Bucha, Moscow knows who is behind this provocation.

Disproof

This is a disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media denying the involvement of Russian troops in a massacre in the town of Bucha near Kyiv.

The material and links may contain distressing/graphic content.

Russia's claims that video footage showing dead bodies on the streets of Bucha is staged have been fact-checked and debunked by the Bellingcat, The Atlantic Council, Mediazona, the Insider and others.

Evidence of Russian atrocities in Bucha is overwhelming. Several executions and shooting of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha were recorded in video by witnesses and Ukrainian drones. Satellite images show that some of the corpses were already lying on the streets weeks before the Russian withdrawal. Incriminatory radio conversations by Russian troops were intercepted and released by German intelligence. Dozens of Bucha survivors have been interviewed by world-class international outlets, including The New York Times, BBC, The Washington Post, Associated Press, Der Spiegel, Le Monde, Radio France Internationale, Al Jazeera or El País. Ukrainian forensic teams are uncovering further evidence of these Russian war crimes. Other false allegations denying Russian involvement in the Bucha massacres were further debunked by some of those international outlets like Deutsche Welle, El País or France24. Furthermore, a similar pattern of Russian war crimes is emerging in places like Borodyanka, Chernihiv, Hostomel and others.

New evidence on how Russian soldiers executed civilians in Bucha was published on 19 May 2022.

Killings, rape and other crimes against civilians have been collected by the Human Rights Watch. According to Bucha’s mayor Anatoly Fedoruk at least 280 people have been buried in mass graves by the Russian army.

The European Union has condemned in the strongest possible terms the reported atrocities committed by the Russian armed forces. The EU called for accountability for human rights and international law violations by the Russian Armed Forces, including full support for the investigation launched by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Read more about the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.

See other disinformation claims, alleging that videos from Ukrainian town Bucha are context-and-evidence-free, that Bucha is a provocation aiming to derail Russia-Ukraine negotiations in Istanbul, that the West is spreading fakes about Russian atrocities in Bucha and that Western media have decided that Russia is guilty in Bucha despite the lack of evidence.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 282
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/04/2022
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Russia
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Invasion of Ukraine, war crimes, War crimes, Provocation
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Disinfo: The growth of tension in Transnistria is orchestrated in the West

Western countries are behind the complication of the situation in Transnistria, whose plans are being implemented by puppet regimes in Eastern Europe.

There is no doubt that the indicated increase in tension in the post-Soviet space was orchestrated in Washington and Brussels and implemented through puppet regimes in Kyiv, Chisinau and Bucharest.

Disproof

An unfounded pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the West as a source of tension around Russia’s borders, attempting to create another crisis in Transnistrian region.

In fact, Transnistria region, uncontrolled by the constitutional authorities of Moldova, has a contingent of the Russian army, called the Operational Group of Russian Forces. There is also a Russian ammunition and weapons depot in the region. After the 1992 armed conflict in the region, Chisinau is constantly demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops and ammunition from its territory.

Disinfo: US chose Ukraine to create the antipode of Russia

In an attempt to suppress Russia, the Americans, using their protégés in Kyiv, decided to create an antipode for our country, cynically choosing Ukraine for this, trying to divide one group of essentially the same people.

Finding no positive basis to win Ukrainians over to its side, long before the 2014 coup d'état, Washington inspired the exclusivity of their nation and hatred of everything Russian.

Disproof

Multiple recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives claiming that Ukraine is an anti-Russian, Russophobic state, presenting the country as a US' project, undermining the statehood of Ukraine, as well as advancing recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about an all-Russian nation and the Russian world/civilisation.

Ukraine does not follow any anti-Russian agenda. Relations between Ukraine and Russia should be defined by international agreements, including the UN Charter which requires states to respect the sovereignty of other states and the Friendship Treaty between the two countries. Russia's ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine, which began in 2014 and escalated in 2022, is the one underminig relations between the two countries.