Disinfo: The US is ready to help return Crimea to Ukraine or turn it into a nuclear desert

Summary

The Americans are preparing, if not to return the Crimea to Ukraine, then to at least turn it into a nuclear desert.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory with no evidence given. Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative of Ukraine being a puppet of the US mixed with the narrative about Ukraine and Crimea. The pro-Kremlin disinformation alleges that the flight over the Ukrainian territory of two US strategic bombers is a pretext to the seizure of Crimea by force. In fact, Air Force Command of Ukrainian Air Force informed that on May 29, four Ukrainian fighter jets accompanied the strategic bombers of the US Air Force during their flight over the territory of Ukraine. This was a planned event to achieve interoperability between NATO and its key partners. Before entering Ukrainian air space, the US bombers were accompanied by the Polish jets. Ukraine is a sovereign state. The US does not control Ukraine. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity are respected by most of the free world, confirmed by the resolutions of the United Nations, but violated by Russia. Crimea was illegally annexed by Moscow based on an illegitimate referendum. On 27 March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution in which it stated that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. On 9 December 2019, the UN General Assembly confirmed its non-recognition of the illegal annexation of Crimea.

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  • Reported in: Issue 203
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 01/06/2020
  • Outlet language(s) Russian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: illegal annexation, Nuclear issues, Puppets, Crimea
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Disinfo: Ukrainian economy will not survive without Russia

Ukraine will not be able to restore the economy to the previous level without the markets of Russia and the CIS countries. The expansion of Ukraine’s quotas in the EU markets, which Kyiv is seeking, will not save the Ukrainian economy. Ukrainian industry has never been guided by the European Union, which perceives Ukraine as a raw materials appendix.

May 31, 2020
Disproof

A recurring pro-Kremlin narrative on Ukraine failing to survive without Russia and on Ukrainian economic relations with the European Union. According to the World Bank, economic growth in Ukraine was solid at 3.2% in 2019, led by a good agricultural harvest and sectors dependent on domestic consumption. This was despite, or maybe because of, the fact that both imports from, and exports to, Russia have decreased markedly since 2013. In June 2014, the EU and Ukraine signed an Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which promotes deeper political ties, stronger economic links and the respect for common values. Since 2014, the EU and Financial Institutions have mobilised more than €15 billion in grants and loans to support the reform process, with strong conditionality on continued progress. See here for more details about EU-Ukraine relations. Since 2016, there has been a steady increase in the export of more value-added products, such as machinery and appliances and transport equipment, while the number of companies exporting to the EU has increased from 11,700 companies in 2015 to more than 14,500 companies in 2019. The total trade turnout increased to 52.6 bln USD in 2019. During 2015-2019, Ukraine also increased its export to the EU from 13 bln USD to 24 bln USD. Overall in 2019, Ukrainian export to the EU increased by 3.9%. Now, the EU accounts for almost half of Ukrainian export. The EU remains a key trading partner of Ukraine with a share of 40.1%. See here for more details about EU-Ukraine trade relations.

Disinfo: The space shuttle of Elon Musk is probably made in Russia, moon landing of the Americans is in doubt

The State Duma suspected that Elon Musk’s space shuttle is of Russian origin. We need to see, from which components the space shuttle is made. The flight of the Americans to the moon is also in doubt. We need to see how many components in this shuttle are Russian. Whose engines are on the spacecraft by Elon Musk? We need to find out this question. I can’t clearly say so far.

May 31, 2020
Disproof

No information is available on the Russian made components of the spacecraft Falcon Heavy. The design is based on Falcon 9's fuselage and engines. On May 30, a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft launched from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the International Space Station as part of SpaceX’s second demonstration mission under the Commercial Crew Programme, the first mission to launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil to the station since the Space Shuttle Programme. The staged moon landing of the Americans is a recurrent conspiracy theory promoted by the pro-Kremlin media outlets. See more examples and the detailed debunking here.

Disinfo: GDP of European countries like Great Britain, France or Italy is much lower than the Russian one

If the G7 club should reflect the most important countries in the world the format should change because countries like India or Russia have a higher Gross Domestic Product than some G7 members. Russia has a GDP which corresponds to 3% of the world GDP, India has 8% of the world GDP. These figures are above France and Great Britain whose GDP is a little more than 2%, or Italy and Canada – a little more than 1%.

May 31, 2020
Disproof

Classic disinformation narrative about the superiority of the Russian economy. Different statistics exist about the world economy and the classification of Gross Domestic Product. According to statistics from the World Bank, available on Worldometers, Russia is on place 11 among the world’s largest economies, well below the ones in the claim. This concerns the nominal gross domestic product. On GDP per capita, where the GDP is related to the number of citizens, Russia assumes place 57.