Disinfo: Ukraine acts on behalf of the US and NATO to escalate the situation at the Azov Sea

Summary

The construction of a Ukrainian naval base in the Azov Sea is an indirect attempt by the West to artificially create a new international problem and an area of military tension near the Russian borders. The Ukrainian navy is acting on behalf of the U.S. and NATO to escalate a problem on the unilateral militarization of the Azov Sea.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation on Ukraine and the Azov Sea, the aggressive West, NATO encircling Russia and NATO belligerence. This is consistent with the narratives challenging Ukrainian statehood and painting the US and NATO as the puppet-masters of Ukrainian politics. Ukraine is a sovereign state. Neither the US, nor NATO, control Ukraine. Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity continue to be violated by acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since February 2014. Despite NATO having refuted such claims many times, pro Kremlin propaganda systematically states that NATO planned to create military bases on the territory of Ukraine: in Crimea, Donbass, and now in the Sea of Azov. A bilateral treaty between Russia and Ukraine, signed in 2003 and ratified by Russia in 2004, governs the use of the Kerch Strait and the Sea of Azov, which in the treaty are considered to be the “internal waters” of both Russia and Ukraine. A treaty stipulates that agreement from each of the two littoral countries is required for warships from any other country to enter the internal sea. It is worth recalling, that on November 2018, border patrol boats belonging to Russia’s FSB security service seized two small Ukrainian armoured artillery vessels and a tugboat and their crews after shooting at them, wounding several Ukrainian servicemen and arresting 24 members. As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated: "Now, Russia is attempting to use Crimea to expand its influence. And control the Sea of Azov."

publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 194
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21/04/2020
  • Outlet language(s) English
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Azov sea, Encircling Russia, NATO, War in Ukraine
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Disinfo: Only Russia, Cuba and China helped Italy, EU didn’t

Italy and Spain got hit the hardest with COVID-19. Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world, but they got no help from their rich neighbors, EU countries like Germany and the Netherlands, but from Russia, Cuba and China.

Disproof

Recurring Pro-Kremlin narrative that the EU left Italy alone to fight coronavirus. The European Commission has approved a €50 million Italian aid scheme to support the production and supply of medical devices, as well as to help Italy provide the necessary medical treatment to those infected. On March 18, the European Union also received a Chinese aid package, including masks and 50,000 testing kits that were fully allocated to Italy, as Rome faces the most urgent needs among member states in the coronavirus crisis. On March 13, the European Union proposed a Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, envisaging EUR 835 million for Italy. On March 26, the European Parliament unanimously approved the initiative. The European Central Bank announced a 750 billion euro ($820 billion) asset purchase program in an effort to help mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, as the death toll in Europe continues to rise. As part of the program, investors will purchase Italian securities to help the country counter the serious risks of the coronavirus. Since the hospitals are overcrowded in Italy, Germany has started to accept coronavirus patients from this harder-hit country. Additionally, Germany and France sent a total of 2 million face masks to the Italian government. Read further debunking on Myth Detector.

Disinfo: Russia is accused of US election meddling and the Skripals' poisoning without proofs

China, of course, is outraged by the US allegations of concealing information and by the currently discussed version that the pandemic resulted from a leak of the virus from a laboratory in Wuhan. No evidence, but a lot of screeching. We saw it already more than once: for example, when Russia was accused of interfering in the American elections or when Russian intelligence services were accused of poisoning the Skripal family in the UK. But anti-Russian sanctions are a reality.

Disproof

A collection of unfounded claims. A recurring narrative on Russian interference in the 2016 US elections. Although Robert Mueller's investigation was concluded with no proof of Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, it did conclude that Russia interfered in the 2016 election. Mueller's report determined that there were "two main Russian efforts to influence the 2016 election". It led to US senators' proposals to extend sanctions on Russia to deter it from further election meddling. The recurrent disinformation message also concerns Salisbury poisoning. After a hearing in the Court of Protection, British High Court Justice David Williams issued an approved judgement about what had happened to the Skripals around three weeks after their poisoning in March 2018. The British Police have presented a solid chain of evidence on the Skripal case, with pictures, connecting the suspects to the locations in the case. Parts of the material have been released to the public. The evidence was sufficient to charge two Russian nationals, Anatoliy Chepiga and Aleksandr Mishkin with the attack on the Skripals, both Russian military intelligence operatives from the GRU, who travelled to the UK using fake names and documents. Following this attack, the United Kingdom notified the OPCW, invited them to confirm the identity of the substance involved, and briefed members of the Security Council. The OPCW’s independent expert laboratories confirmed the UK’s identification of the Russian produced Novichok nerve agent, specifically the purity of the toxin while emphasising that the OPCW team “worked independently and was not involved in the national investigation by the UK authorities. No State Party was involved in the technical work carried out by the Technical Secretariat, to ensure the integrity of the examinations and investigations.

Disinfo: The fate of Donbas is decided by nationalists not Zelenskyy

The fate of Donbas is not decided by Zelenskyy. The hegemony of nationalists has developed in Ukraine, and Zelenskyy cannot break them.

Disproof

The recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about the alleged power of Nationalists in Ukraine and their influence on the state processes. All right-wing groups have suffered spectacular defeats in every national election since 2014. In 2019 the far-right "Svoboda" (often described as "ultra-nationalist" or "Nazis" by pro-Kremlin outlets) gained only 2.15% of the vote, far short of the threshold needed to enter Parliament. This demonstrates the public's lack of support for far-right nationalist parties in Ukraine. The current president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy got 73.22% of the vote in the 2019 presidential elections. His party "Sluga narodu" got the largest number of votes - 43.16% in subsequent parliamentary elections.