Disinfo: US is helping Ukraine to prepare a provocation using chemical weapons

Summary

A US provocation using chemical weapons is in the making in the Ukrainian zone of operations. On 10 February, a wagon carrying chemical substances, escorted by foreign nationals, arrived in Kramatorsk and the cargo was unloaded under the supervision of officers from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU).

The wagon contained 16 sealed metal cans. Half of them were marked with a chemical hazard sign with the inscription BZ. This chemical causes acute psychosis, disorientation, hallucinations, memory impairment. The use of BZ (3-Quinuclidinyl Benzylate) is prohibited under Article 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention.

The simultaneous transport of toxic chemicals and protective equipment suggest that [...] large-scale provocations are prepared with the psychotropic warfare agent BZ. Given that the war makes an international investigation of the incident impossible, the masterminds of the operation expect to shift the blame to Moscow.

Disproof

Conspiracy theory and a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation claim about the alleged use of chemical weapons by Ukraine. Such claims are part of a broader pro-Kremlin information manipulation campaign supporting the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and trying to place the blame for war atrocities on Ukraine, as our recent analysis explains.

There is no evidence to back the claim that Ukraine may have used or is planning to use chemical weapons under any circumstances. In fact, this is an attempt to deflect responsibility away from Russia's own actions, with Western leaders having concerns that Russia could use chemical weapons.

Russia has a history of both using chemical weapons against the opponents of Putin's regime, and attempts to undermine the international norms and institutions which prohibit the use of chemical weapons.

Read similar disinformation cases on the topic: US contractors help prepare chemical provocations in Ukraine; Ukraine aims to use Turkish Bayraktars for chemical attacks; Ukraine is preparing a false flag chemical attack to damage the image of Russia; Kyiv forces are about to launch a chemical attack against Russian soldiers.

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oroszhirek.hu (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 330
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 28/02/2023
  • Article language(s) Hungarian
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, US, Russia
  • Keywords: Chemical weapons/attack, Provocation, Donbas, Invasion of Ukraine
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Disinfo: The US wants to silence the situation about the Nord Stream investigation

After the publication of an article by US journalist Seymour Hersh highlighting that the US remotely detonated the explosives that blew the Nord Stream pipelines under president Biden’s orders, the US try to downplay the situation and defend their stance that Russian special services are involved in the sabotage, while not allowing Russia to take part in the investigation. The US Administration try to silence the situation.

Feb 27, 2023
Disproof

This is part of a wider pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign aiming to amplify and exploit Seymour Hersh’s controversial article accusing the US of blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines. The article can’t be considered an evidence of this: it is based on a single, unidentified anonymous source and published in Hersh’s personal blog, so no editorial team was involved in its preparation.

Some of its affirmations have been credibly debunked by journalists, experts and OSINT researchers, such as claims about NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cooperating with the US since the Vietnam War (who was 15 at the time this war ended), the use of the M350 Alta ship (which had been out of use since 2012 and sent to the scrapyard in 2022), or that a P-8 aircraft of the Norwegian Navy was involved to detonate the explosives (none of Norway’s P-8 was remotely closer to the area of the explosions).

Disinfo: Romania is concentrating air defense systems to Moldova’s border

Romania pulls air defense systems to the border with Moldova. A video has been published on the Web that show that Romania is pulling together air defense systems near the border with Moldova.

Feb 27, 2023
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinfo narrative suggesting that Moldova is preparing for war against Russia, being instigated by Washington and NATO via Romania, a NATO member. The claim is based on a video spread via Telegram presenting military technical units circulating on the streets of an unnamed city.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense denied the information. In a statement published on its web page, the Ministry said this is an old video, from November 2022, recorded in Alba Iulia city, when Romanian militaries prepared to celebrate National Day – 1 December. „Falsely, with the obvious aim of inducing panic, the video material is presented, on February 27, 2023, as "the move of Romanian air defense systems to the border with the Republic of Moldova, this morning", the Ministry said.

Disinfo: The weapons sent to Ukraine end up in the hands of criminal groups in Sweden

The weapons sent to Ukraine end up in the hands of criminal groups in Sweden. Weapons smugglers from Gothenburg receive offers to buy weapons coming to Ukraine to be sold afterwards to gangs in the Nordic country, according to information in Swedish media.

Feb 27, 2023
Disproof

The claim is a disingenuous manipulation to promote a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative against supporting Ukraine. Although there is preliminary evidence showing that some small arms provided by Western countries may have been diverted by traffickers to criminal gangs in certain countries in northern Europe, this story deliberately distorts these cases, portraying them as much more widespread and dangerous than they actually are.

In October 2022, a top official at Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation, Detective Superintendent Christer Ahlgren, told the Finnish public broadcaster Yle that his office had received preliminary information that criminals in Finland might have captured military arms, such as assault rifles, meant for Ukrainian forces, and that weapons shipped to Ukraine had “also been found in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands”. Similar comments were made by the weapons smuggling expert at the Swedish Customs Office Jesper Liedholm to Sverige Radio in February 2023.