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Disinfo: Ukrainian soldiers raped an American photojournalist in the Donbas

Summary

Soldiers of the National Guard in Donbas raped an American photojournalist, reports LPR. “The patrols managed to knock the American correspondent unconscious and carried out violent acts of a sexual nature” the report said.

Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation about the war in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian army.

American photographer Jen Tuero Blatti who was mentioned in the statement denies this information:

"There is widespread news being published / I believe out of Ukraine’s occupied territories - that I was raped by Ukrainian soldiers yesterday - and who knows what else these articles say because I can’t read them. Apparently the source of the information is the LNR police - self-proclaimed “Luhansk People’s Republic” police. This information is absolute NONSENSE and in the words of the U.S. President - “FAKE NEWS.” And moreover, all the Ukrainian soldiers and volunteers I have worked with are stellar human beings" 

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publication/media

rusvesna.su (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 198
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 16/05/2020
  • Language/target audience: Russian
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Keywords: Military, LPR, Donbas
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Belarus will either become part of Russia or the West’s poor colony

Belarus has a chance to become wealthier thanks to an accession with Russia. However, Belarusian president Alyaksandr Lukashenka is leading the country towards a Ukrainian scenario to turn it into the West’s poor colony. Belarus cannot be a really independent country. It can only join Russia as a separate federal district, in the best case, or become a US-controlled colony with pseudo-statehood, with a looted and destroyed economy. Lukashenka will likely promote Russophobic hysteria, his and his family’s fate will be bleak because Americans do not treat those who they use well. People from Lukashenka’s circle will be either imprisoned or killed, they will be replaced by nationalists and Russophobes.

May 18, 2020
Disproof

This is a pro-Kremlin claim consistent with recurring narratives about Belarus as an integral part of the Russian world and its bleak prospects without a close integration with Russia, Western aggressiveness and anti-Russian and anti-Belarusian activities including the West's colonial intentions, and Russophobia elsewhere including in Belarus. It promotes a false dilemma for Belarus's development and paints very bleak prospects for Belarus up to the loss of sovereignty in case it does not join Russia.

See an earlier disinformation case alleging that three types of Russophobia are turning Belarus into an anti-Belarus and anti-Russian state, and other examples of a similar false dilemma claiming that Belarus faces either normal development under Russia or a forced Polonization and economic devastation, that the only possible scenario for Ukraine and Belarus to prevent their descent into Nazism through the politicisation of national clothes is to become a Russian western federal area, and that the direction of Belarus and other post-Soviet countries' political development is either a union with Russia or unavoidable degradation.

Partners are transferring funds to Georgia in exchange for vaccination and experiments

Funds allocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Georgia may not be designated for supporting the economy and agriculture, but for conducting vaccinations instead. Georgia is participating in a study by the World Health Organization (WHO) that envisages the testing of four drugs. This raises doubts that the partner countries are transferring funds to Georgia in exchange for vaccination and experiments.

May 18, 2020
Disproof

Recurring conspiracy theory on coronavirus and vaccination.

On 2 May 2020, the IMF allocated USD 200 million to Georgia in its fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. The statement by the IMF reads that the funds will be used to cover (1) immediate financial needs and (2) balance of payments.

The West does not treat post-Soviet countries as sovereign states, Joe Biden holds Ukraine’s presidency

The US and EU deprive their vassal states of sovereignty and independence. Their financial assistance is Trojan financial aid. Money in exchange for reforms corrupts local ruling elites, rewards them for loyalty, and provokes addiction of their weakened economies. The EU believes that the post-Soviet states have to obey, it does not perceive them as sovereign. IMF’s financial aid is an even stronger drug for post-Soviet countries than financial assistance within the Eastern Partnership. IMF’s decisions are made by the US and its allies to keep external control over countries.

Ukraine is a showcase that Western assistance helps no-one, it is rather a tool of external governance. In order to receive foreign aid, Ukraine is ordered to raise the cost of utilities, to cut social programmes, to sell land to foreigners. Over the past years, Ukraine has proven to be the country totally deprived of sovereignty and independence. Its ministers are appointed on Washington’s orders, government members are foreign agents, and the head of the national security service is a recruited agent of American intelligence. Furthermore, Joe Biden sits in Ukraine’s presidential chair and orders what bills have to be adopted.

May 18, 2020
Disproof

This is a mix of conspiracies aimed at discrediting the statehood of Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, the EU, the US and international financial organisations including the IMF. It is consistent with common pro-Kremlin narratives about the aggressive West and Ukraine as a non-sovereign country. It also alleges the EU's mean intentions behind the Eastern Partnership programme.

The Eastern Partnership (EaP) is a joint policy initiative which aims to deepen and strengthen relations between the European Union (EU), its Member States and its six Eastern neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. The Eastern Partnership initiative is a mutually beneficial and constructive platform for countries in the region to build a closer relationship with the EU if they choose to do so. The Eastern Partnership stands for good neighbourly relations and respects the individual aspirations and ambitions of each partner country. Read more about the Eastern Partnership and its priorities here.

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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.