Disinfo: US maintains sanctions on Russia even though accusations of interference proved to be unfounded,

Summary

The accusations of Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 presidential elections in the United States turned out to be unfounded, but Washington still maintains the sanctions imposed in light of them. The 'house of cards' of accusations brought against Russia for its alleged intervention in the elections has crumbled, with new people appearing who declare the opposite of what was stated in 2016. However, US policy does not change and sanctions are not lifted, while politicians distort the information in their favour, speaking of the need to impose new sanctions.

Disproof

The claim that “Russian interference turned to be unfounded” is false. The mention of “people changing what they said in 2016” seems to be a reference to the discredited Steele Dossier -a secret memorandum written by private intelligence operative Christopher Steele on the alleged collusion between members of the Donald Trump team and Russian officials. It was first made public by BuzzFeed in January 2017, whose main source, Russian analyst Igor Danchenko, has been challenged and considered unreliable after being charged with lying to the FBI.

However, this only refers to the Steele Dossier, while Russian interference in the US election in 2016 has been proven beyond any doubt by successive official and journalistic investigations. The probe led by US special counsel Robert Mueller presented plentiful evidence of it, including testimonies and physical proof, as well as of cooperation in the process from members of Donald Trump's team and other US citizens. The latter led to the criminal indictment of 34 people, 26 of them Russian citizens or entities including the infamous Internet Research Agency.

The 5-volume report of the US Senate Intelligence Committee widened the scope of the investigation and provided additional evidence of Russia’s meddling in the electoral process in 2016. Many other findings by The New York Times and The Washington Post, for which they received the Pulitzer Prize in 2018, were later backed by the evidence presented in court, further investigations or confessions of those involved.

See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Russiagate was a fraud orchestrated by the West, that the Mueller report is another proof of how Russia is always falsely accused, or that US Democrats were accusing Russia of interference as a preventive measure for their defeat.

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actualidad.rt.com (Archived)
  • Reported in: Issue 267
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 27/11/2021
  • Article language(s) Spanish
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: US, Russia
  • Keywords: election meddling, Sanctions
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Disinfo: President of the European Commission and head of NATO visit Vilnius to instruct authorities

The aim of the joint visit of the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to Vilnius is to give strict instructions to Lithuanian authorities on when and what to say and do. It is very important in the situation with migration crisis on the border between Belarus and Lithuania. Every shot of Lithuanian border guards in the direction of Belarus could be seen by Minsk as the beginning of NATO aggression against the Union State of Belarus and Russia.

Nov 26, 2021
Disproof

A recurring narrative presenting Lithuanian authorities as puppets of the EU and NATO.

The joint visit of the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to Vilnius was a sign of solidarity with the situation on the border between Belarus and the EU. Lukashenka's regime is responsible for the mentioned tensions on the border. There is plenty of evidence that the Belarusian authorities have instigated the ongoing crisis.

Disinfo: The EU asks Russia to let the Donbas population die of starvation

The EU asked Russia to let the Donbas population die of starvation by ceasing its humanitarian aid. As tough as it may seem, this would be the interpretation of the call made by the European Union to withdraw a decree on humanitarian aid recently signed by Vladimir Putin, aimed to alleviate the hard socioeconomic situation in Eastern Ukraine as a result of Kyiv’s blockade and the COVID-19. Russia’s open hand draw the ires of Josep Borrell, whose statement accuses Moscow of “taking unilateral steps that only provoke further aggravation of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine”. According to the West, everything that is done to protect the Donbas population is an “aggravation of the conflict”, while, following this logic, the military attacks of Kyiv’s army against the self-proclaimed republics of the East “contribute to peace”.

Nov 26, 2021
Disproof

Pro-Kremlin disinformation about EU and Ukraine. The claim grossly distorts and misrepresent the statement of the EU.

As the European External Action Service has stated, the Russian decree signed by President Putin on 15 November on simplified trade rules with Donbas aims to further separate the temporarily non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk from Ukraine, in contradiction with the objectives of the Minsk Agreements.

Disinfo: The Ukrainian regime kills the opposition with the help of neo-Nazis

After the 2014 coup, the Ukrainian regime turned to outright terrorism against the opposition, including the killing of opposition politicians and journalists with the help of neo-Nazis, who were integrated into the structures of the security services and the Ministry of Interior.

Nov 26, 2021
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Ukrainian politics and society as dominated by Nazi/ Fascist ideology; claiming that the Ukrainian regime kills opposition politicians and journalists is a wildly false claim that the article does not even attempt to corroborate.

The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine has been a cornerstone of Russian disinformation about the country since the very beginning of the 2013-14 Euromaidan protests, when it was used to discredit the pro-European popular uprising in Kyiv and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy. Far-right groups had a very limited presence during the protests and went on to obtain abysmal results in the 2014 presidential and parliamentary elections. During the 2019 election cycle, the far-right managed to sustain an even more tremendous failure.