Disinfo: The US military has transferred about 50 tons of gold from Syria

Summary

The US military transported about 50 tons of stolen gold from Syria. The US military received the gold from terrorists who had hidden the loot near the village of Al-Baghuz.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the US support for terrorists presented entirely without evidence. The source quoted in this article is SANA, an official organ of the Syrian government which promotes the idea of cooperation between the US and Jihadist forces. Read a similar story here.

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 139
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 01/03/2019
  • Outlet language(s) Italian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Syria, US
  • Keywords: Military, Jihad, Syrian War, Daesh
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Disinfo: ISIS leader al-Baghdadi roams Iraqi desert under US protection

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, travels freely throughout Iraq’s Anbar province under protection of the US military.

Disproof

The story, originally reported by the Lebanese El-Nashra website, provides no factual evidence of Baghdadi's links to the US military, and rests entirely on an unverifiable statement by an Iraqi lawmaker. The report advances a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Washington's support for ISIS and other terrorist organizations in the Middle East.

Disinfo: US is supporting Ukraine for staging provocations against Russia

The US is doing in Ukraine what the UK did in Poland in the 1930s. Before World War 2, UK obliged Poland to stage provocations every week on the Polish-Soviet border. Now, Donald Trump will supply weapons to Ukraine to perform provocations, similar to what happened in the Kerch Strait.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the Kerch Strait incident, being a Ukrainian provocation, and questioning Ukraine's sovereignty The situation in the Sea of Azov was addressed by the 2003 bilateral agreement between Ukraine and Russia, which defined these territories as internal waters of the two states and gives both parties the power to inspect suspicious vessels; whereas both the 2003 agreement and UN Convention on the Law of the Sea provide for the freedom of navigation. Crimea was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, but the bilateral agreement on the Sea of Azov remains in power. Read more here. Moreover, the claims about the interwar Polish leadership being controlled by the UK and performed provocations against the USSR are unfounded.

Disinfo: Ukrainian anti-corruption authorities were created and are controlled by Western embassies

The specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine are bodies that, in fact, were created by agents of foreign influence who acted under the orders of foreign embassies. Today these institutions are managed by foreign embassies. They were created in order to punish all those who are not pro-American.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine. Unfounded claims on foreign influence on Ukraine's legal system. Eradication of corruption was one of the main demands of the Maidan protests in 2013-2014. After the new President and Parliament were elected in Ukraine in 2014, anti-corruption reform became a key objective of a new Ukrainian government, which was agreed on in a Coalition Agreement (part 3). As a result, the new Parliament created two new independent anti-corruption bodies. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is a law enforcement agency responsible for preventing, detecting, terminating, investigating and disclosing corruption offenses committed by senior officials. The specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is a prosecutorial body, which functions independently from the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine. Its main tasks include prosecution of the crimes and supervision during pre-trial investigations conducted by National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. The EU supports anti-corruption reform in Ukraine. During an EU-Ukraine Summit in July 2018, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker noted: “For us, the fight against corruption is an important duty for Ukraine, relevant. I will never say that Ukraine is a corrupt country, but there is corruption in Ukraine, just like in other countries. And we really pay a lot of attention to the fight against corruption, including to the steps that the Ukrainian authorities are taking". In her visit to Ukraine in March 2018, High Representative/Vice President of the EU Federica Mogherini mentioned: “The anti-corruption institutions must be allowed to do their work independently, with enough powers and resources to investigate, prosecute and eventually ensure the conviction of those responsible for corruption.” U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch also stresses the need to safeguard independence of the newly created anti-corruption authorities and to “establishing an anti-corruption court of the highest integrity, based on the Venice Commission’s opinion.”