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Disinfo: Ukraine is going to launch a missile strike on Russia

Summary

Ukraine is going to attack the Russian city of Novorossiysk with Neptune rockets. They will not succeed, because the Ukrainians cannot create anything themselves. Ukraine is just using Soviet rocket models.

Disproof

The Ukrainian authorities did not declare that they intend to start bombing Russian cities.

The modernisation of Ukraine's defence complex began after the start of Russian aggression, as a response to the Kremlin's occupation of Ukrainian territories. A sample of the brand new Neptune cruise missile was presented in 2015, shortly followed by practical testing. Neptune was created as the first Ukrainian cruise missile and it is possible to use it from various types of carriers: ships, aircraft and coastal complexes. The ground-based cruise missile is a fully Ukrainian development of the state-owned enterprise Luch, in cooperation with Motor Sich and other enterprises that are part of the Ukroboronprom state concern.

The Kremlin launched the disinformation campaign against the latest Ukrainian development, the Neptune cruise missile, back in 2014-2015, when Ukraine began to modernise its defence complex. And while the Ukrainian missile was developed, and then successfully tested, Russian propaganda stubbornly stated that Ukraine was allegedly “unable” to create a new model of weapons. Starting from 2017, Russian media systematically released fake materials about the Ukrainian cruise missile, having developed a certain set of narratives about the Ukrainian Neptune cruise missile.

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publication/media

Tsargrad TV
lenta.ru (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 204
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 21/06/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Russia, Ukraine
  • Keywords: Missile defence system, War in Ukraine
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MH17: Evidence collected by JIT could have been fabricated

Evidence from the MH17 crash, including that collected at the scene of the incident, could have been fabricated.

June 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative on the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine, aiming to discredit the criminal trial and the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

There is no proof that any of the evidence has been manipulated or falsified by the JIT. In order to find out the cause of the crash, the Joint Investigation Team investigated all human remains, personal belongings and wreckage of the aircraft found in the vicinity of the disaster site. The traces were secured and investigated and compared by experts. In addition, the JIT sought and heard witnesses and experts, analysed radar and satellite images, assessed large amounts of telecom data such as intercepted telephone conversations and analysed big data. Read more about the investigation here.

Despite promises to the contrary, NATO has been expanding further eastwards

The Cold War is over, the enemy image of the Soviet threat has disappeared and communism has been driven out of Europe. NATO for its part, despite promises to the contrary, has been expanding ever further eastwards and today stands on the Russian border from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

June 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and encircled Russia.

The NATO enlargement was not "contrary to promises". NATO Allies take decisions by consensus and these are recorded. There is no record of any such decision having been taken by NATO. Even if there was a personal assurance from an individual leader, it could not replace Alliance consensus and does not constitute a formal NATO agreement. This promise was never made, as confirmed by Mikhail Gorbachev, then-president of the Soviet Union:

NATO establishes a colonial relationship with Ukraine disguised as partnership

NATO issued another item in the long list of “incentives” designed to mock Ukraine. The organisation designed Ukraine as an “Enhanced Opportunities Partner” along with other five nations (Georgia, Sweden, Finland, Australia and Jordan), rewarding their important contributions to NATO operations and goals with the opportunity of increasing dialogue and cooperation with the Alliance. Given its long history of political and military interaction with NATO, including a decade-long military deployment in Afghanistan, Ukraine reached a level of interoperability with NATO higher than some actual member states. Ukraine resembles NATO, speaks like NATO, acts like NATO, but it is not NATO, and it won’t be. So the question is what kind of relation NATO has in mind regarding to Ukraine, given that it will never become a member. By granting the status of “Enhanced Opportunities Partner” to Ukraine and those other nations, NATO is expanding its military capabilities without assuming the risks linked to the expansion of its membership. Ukrainian troops can be sacrificed in far lands without any real security interest for the Ukrainian people, but NATO will never mobilise under Article 5 to help Kyiv in its own territory. The relation reflects that of a colonial master and its vassal, demanding a lot and delivering little.

June 22, 2020
Disproof

Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about NATO and Ukraine. Contrary to the claim, the nature of Ukraine’s relation with the Atlantic Alliance is totally voluntary, as was the country’s participation in NATO missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan. The Enhanced Opportunities Partnership is a tailor-made programme to benefit both sides, not a colonial-style servitude.

Kyiv requested formal membership of the Alliance in 2008, but plans to join it were shelved after Ukraine’s Parliament rejected it, and reemerged after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its sponsoring of the conflict in Donbas. In all these cases, the decision was taken solely by Ukrainian authorities.

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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.