Language:

See all Disinfo Cases - Detail

Disinfo: Ukraine has become a neocolony of the West

Summary

After Euromaidan, Ukraine moved from the stage of dependence on the West to the stage of the neocolonies of the West – complete external management while formally maintaining the status of an independent state.

Disproof

This narrative is consistent with common pro-Kremlin narratives about the aggressive West and Ukraine as a non-sovereign country.

Ukraine is recognised by international law as a sovereign nation-state, with its own flag, nationality, language and with a democratically-elected president and parliament. The EU, the US, and other Western partners support the democratic development of Ukraine in accordance with the UN Charter’s principles of non-interference into internal affairs and respect towards territorial integrity and political independence.

The US policy is centred on realising and strengthening a stable, democratic, prosperous and free Ukraine, more closely integrated into Europe and Euro-Atlantic structures. The EU, on its side, supports Ukraine in ensuring a stable, prosperous and democratic future for its citizens and is unwavering in its support for Ukraine’s independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty. Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty are, however, violated by continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.

See earlier propaganda and disinformation cases alleging that Europe is occupied by the US and has limited sovereignty, that the Eastern Partnership aims to erode Belarusian identity and promote the views of Polish gentry, and that Ukraine is an anti-Russian project of the CIA.

Go to search

publication/media

News Front - Russian (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 200
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 20/05/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Keywords: West, Imperialism/colonialism, Abandoned Ukraine, Sovereignty, Euromaidan, The West, Ukrainian statehood

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

see more

The main goal of American bio-labs is to surround Russia and hit it with bioweapons

The main goal of the United States is different: to surround Russia not only with troops but also with bio-labs, which, in the event of a possible military threat, will make it possible to deliver a quick strike with the most unpredictable and deadly biological weapons.

May 21, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about 'secret laboratories' on Russia's borders. See related examples of disinformation about the Lugar lab in Georgia. There is no evidence to claim that the US is developing biological weapons.

Contrary to the claims of the pro-Kremlin media, the Richard Lugar Centre for Public Health Research in Tbilisi, Georgia, is a facility of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC). The Lugar centre is a top-tiered institution in NCDC’s laboratory network and serves as a reference laboratory for Georgia’s public health system. In no case has this laboratory designed, redesigned or built biological weapons. Read more about the Lugar lab on Myth Detector.

OHCHR report is based on flimsy White Helmets statements

Moscow has repeatedly refuted these allegations (by the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria on “committing war crimes” in this country), and confirmed that it is based on flimsy statements from “the artists of fabricated news”, such as “White Helmets”. 

May 20, 2020
Disproof

The allegations are false and aiming at depicting the White Helmets as terrorists.

The latest report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria which is made of three independent experts, is the UN’s first explicit acknowledgement of Moscow’s role in destroying civilian infrastructure in rebel-held areas and focuses on events of July 2019 to January this year, and in particular attacks by “pro-government forces” on civilian targets like medical facilities, driving 700,000 civilians from their homes.

Donetsk and Luhansk authorities rejected the coup that happened in Kyiv

Since 2014, Ukraine has witnessed an ongoing political and military crisis in the east of the country after the Donetsk and Luhansk region authorities announced the creation of two republics on their territories, rejecting a coup that occurred in Kyiv in February of the same year.

As a result of the coup in Kyiv, Crimea returned to Russia after a popular referendum organized on the peninsula in March 2014, through which more than 95% of the population of the peninsula voted in favour of returning to the “motherland”, but most countries of the world, primarily the Western countries, refused to recognize the results of the referendum.

May 20, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative painting the Euromaidan as a coup d'etat and claiming that Crimea chose to rejoin Russia through a legal referendum.

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