Disinfo: There is a civil war in Ukraine

Summary

Yanukovych was forced to flee, a civil war began, a referendum was held to separate Crimea from Ukraine and annex it to Russia – misleadingly called the “annexation of Crimea” by the mainstream and Western politics.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the war in Ukraine. In the article, the RT-German repeats many well-known pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives: there is a civil war in Ukraine; Russia is not part of the war in Ukraine; that in the case of MH17, the JIT does not take into account Russia's contributions. All these narratives have been refuted several times as disinformation. Russia provoked the war in Ukraine, and it is therefore not a civil war.

The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court 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. The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation". At the NATO Summit in Wales in September 2014, NATO leaders condemned in the strongest terms Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine and demanded Russia to stop and withdraw its forces from Ukraine and from the country’s border. NATO leaders also demanded Russia to comply with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities; end its illegitimate occupation of Crimea; refrain from aggressive actions against Ukraine; halt the flow of weapons, equipment, people and money across the border to the separatists; and stop fomenting tension along and across the Ukrainian border. According to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Russian special forces and troops operated to mobilise, lead, equip, and support separatist militias in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine from spring 2014 to the present, although their presence was denied by Moscow. Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine in 2015. This claim appeared in the same article as claims that Russia is not a conflict party in Ukraine and JIT ignores Russian contributions in MH17 case.

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RT Germany (old) (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 216
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 17/10/2020
  • Outlet language(s) German
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: illegal annexation, Civil war, Viktor Yanukovych, Crimea, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: The coup in 2013-2014 is the root cause of the war and other problems in Ukraine

Ukrainian politicians still do not want to admit that the unconstitutional seizure of power in Kyiv was the root cause of the upheavals in the country. Instead, the so-called “Maidan victors” decided to use force to suppress the dissenters in various regions of Ukraine. They imposed an almost complete ban on the Russian language, initiated lustration, the liquidation of parties and NGOs, the closure of oppositional media, and the lifting of restrictions on the propaganda of neo-Nazi ideology. And the Western mediators – France, Germany, and Poland, who acted as guarantors of the agreement of February 21, 2014 – in fact, withdrew from fulfilling the promises. Almost seven years later, Kyiv is still afraid to face the truth and admit guilt for the tragic consequences of the bloody coup. They prefer to hide their fear behind anti-Russian and Russophobic rhetoric.

Oct 16, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign against Ukraine, containing multiple disinformation narratives regarding the Euromaidan, the war in Ukraine and Ukrainian statehood. There was no coup in Ukraine seven years ago. The demonstrations which began in Kyiv in November 2013 – called "Maidan", or "Euromaidan" – were a result of the Ukrainian people's frustration with former President Yanukovych's last-minute U-turn when, after seven years of negotiation, he refused to sign the EU–Ukraine Association Agreement and halted progress towards Ukraine's closer relationship with the EU. The Ukrainian government, which came into power after the Euromaidan, did not use force to suppress the dissenters. The war in eastern Ukraine, which is often regarded as an outcome of this, is actually a well-documented case of Russian armed aggression. Ukraine did not ban the Russian language, closed parties, NGOs, or oppositional media. The Russian language remains one of the minority languages in Ukraine; it can be used in private communication and religious ceremonies, in book publishing and the press, including radio and television, in education, the service sector, the healthcare system, and in law enforcement. New parties with oppositional ideology as well as new media came into existence after 2014. Ukraine did not propagate the neo-Nazi ideology. The Nazi and Communist ideologies were banned by a Ukrainian law in 2015. See similar disinformation cases alleging that Euromaidan and pro-European politics led to the collapse of Ukraine, that the USA destroys Ukrainian identity, or that Ukraine finally becomes "anti-Russia".

Disinfo: JIT ignores Russia-supplied radar data proving MH17 was shot down by Ukraine

The Dutch-led Joint Investigative Team, which is looking into the case, believes that the Boeing was shot down with a weapon belonging to a Russian military unit. The Russian authorities have criticised the Dutch investigation for ignoring radar data presented by Moscow, which it says shows that the plane was shot down by a Ukrainian Buk missile.

Oct 16, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative surrounding the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 17. The claim that Moscow was "eager" to supply the JIT with radar readings is false. The first batch of data provided by Russia was not "raw data" but rather a video combining primary and secondary information. It was intended to corroborate Russia's account of the events, according to which the ill-fated passenger flight had been shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet (see here for context). The raw data provided by Moscow, in the words of the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, "offered contradictory results"; hence, "the investigation of radar data is complete" not only on the basis of the information provided by Moscow, but "also on the reasons why other data could not be provided [emphasis added]." See here and here for further debunking by Bellingcat and Polygraph.info, respectively.

Disinfo: It was EU that suffered the most from anti-Russian sanctions

The EU, not Russia, suffered the most serious damage in 2014 and 2018 as a result of the exchange of sectoral sanctions and Russian counter-sanctions.

Oct 16, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Western sanctions on Russia claiming that they have backfired. Since March 2014, the EU has progressively imposed restrictive measures against Russia. The measures were adopted in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and the deliberate destabilisation of Ukraine. According to research into the effect of sanctions, the cumulative export loss to Russia during 2014-2018 is estimated at EUR 30 billion (about -0.2% of EU’s GDP in 2018), incurred largely during 2014-2016, as EU exports to Russia recovered in 2017. While these sanctions do affect the EU's economy, the EU-wide impacts of the export losses are estimated at less than 0.2% of total value-added and employment. Research showed that already in 2016 most of the affected agricultural sectors had been able to find alternative markets, either within the EU or beyond.