Disinfo: The US forced Czechia into quarrel with Russia

Summary

The Czech scandal fits absolutely into the strip of entire American events, from the attempted coup in Belarus and ending with the destabilisation in the Donbas. The Czechs themselves could not have come up with such an event. They simply did not need it. But if they really wanted to quarrel with Russia, they would have found another reason.

It is the Americans who stand behind the task, and the Czechs were the ones who acted. The way the Czechs did it suggests that they deliberately demonstrated absurdity in this situation in order to show that they had nothing to do with it and that they were forced by the Americans.

Disproof

This is part of a disinformation campaign about the events surrounding the Vrbetice explosion in 2014 and the expulsion of Russian diplomats from the Czech Republic in April 2021, after the involvement of Russian state actors was established by Czech authorities. The claim attempts to ridicule the revelations about GRU's involvement by launching groundless claims that the Czech actions were forced by the US.

The investigation by Czech authorities established beyond doubt that GRU agents Anatoly Chepiga and Alexander Mishkin, the same individuals considered responsible for the attempted murder of Sergey Skripal in Salisbury in 2018, were behind the explosion in an ammunition storage depot in the Czech location of Vrbetice in 2014, which killed two people. According to investigators, an email supposedly from the National Guard of Tajikistan had requested permission for two individuals - ”Ruslan Tabarov” from Tajikistan and “Nicolaj Popa” from Moldova - to visit the storage site and included the scanned image of two false passports with the pictures of both men. The images of “Tabarov” and “Popa” matched those of Chepiga and Mishkin.

Prague's findings were independently corroborated by a joint investigation conducted by Bellingcat, The Insider (Russia), Der Spiegel (Germany), and Respekt.cz (Czech Republic). Bellingcat announced already in 2020 that members of Unit 29155 were present in Czechia during the period when a large arms depot exploded in northern Moravia. In this regard, claims that the current tensions in Czechia-Russia relations have something to do with the US are groundless.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 242
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 26/04/2021
  • Article language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Czech Republic, US, Russia
  • Keywords: Diplomacy with Russia, Vrbetice explosion
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Disinfo: Donbas war is an internal Ukrainian conflict

What is happening in the Donbas is an internal Ukrainian conflict in which Russian troops have never been involved.

The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, reiterated that Russia is not interested in any conflict with Ukraine and especially not in any military conflict.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine.

There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated 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. This 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".

Disinfo: Gauleiter Biden and the US were behind the Orange revolution 2004 and the coup of 2014

US domestic policy is still in chaos. Biden is known to many as the grey cardinal of Western European countries. Joe himself became a self-proclaimed Gauleiter, a leader who could do anything in Western Europe. Like any Gauleiter, Biden has a dark side - after the collapse of the USSR, he could do anything he wanted in the newly formed countries that suffered from poverty and gained independence. The best example is Ukraine.

The United States was behind the two loudest revolutions in Ukraine - the Orange one of 2004 and the coup of 2014. In both cases, the US tactic was to support the right-wing movement and lead Ukraine into a war with its neighbour Russia.

Biden's plan was to occupy naval bases in the Black Sea basin, but Russia took an unexpected step - it took Crimea under its patronage. Thus, Joe's main goal became unattainable, so the United States has been seeking revenge ever since. From now on, Gauleiter Biden is planning a blitzkrieg to bring Crimea and Donbas back under American control.

Disproof

This article is consistent with recurring pro-Kremlin propagandistic claims about Ukraine under external control and has several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives: the claim that the Euromaidan was a coup, that Ukraine is under external control by the US and a disinformation narrative about Joe Biden.

There was no coup d'état in Ukraine in 2014. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.

Disinfo: Reports of Russia's role in Vrbetice explosion are ploy to influence upcoming German elections

The Czech Republic is under the tremendous influence of German big business. It cannot be ruled out that the allegations of Russia's involvement in the 2014 Vrbetice explosion are linked to the upcoming federal elections in Germany.

The election will likely be dominated by two candidates: Merkel's successor, regarded as pro-Russian; and the anti-Russian Green Party candidate. The recent diplomatic scandal could have been contrived as a means to tip the scale of German public opinion in the Green Party's favour.

Disproof

The claim is part of an emerging pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative surrounding the 2014 fatal explosion at an ammo depot in Vrbetice, Czechia and the suspected role of Russia's GRU agency in the incident.

There is no evidence suggesting that the accusations against Russia are part of an international conspiracy to rig the elections in Germany, a country boasting one of the freest and most transparent electoral systems in the world.